


Not With the Eyes, But With the Mind

by mikkimouse



Category: Gargoyles (Cartoon)
Genre: 37 Headcanons in a Trenchcoat, A lot - Freeform, Canon Compliant, Canon-Typical Violence, Family Feels, Flashbacks, Future Fic, Gen, Kidnapping, Minor Angela/Broadway, Minor Goliath/Elisa Maza, Oberon gets punched in the face, POV Multiple, Polyamorous David Xanatos, Unconventional Families, let's be real he fucking deserves it, mostly anyway
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-13
Updated: 2020-10-13
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:02:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 21
Words: 48,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26943364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mikkimouse/pseuds/mikkimouse
Summary: In which Alex Xanatos finds out just what Owen gave up to stay with them and decides he's going to fix it.Even if it means going up against Oberon himself.
Relationships: David Xanatos/Janine "Fox" Xanatos, Puck | Owen Burnett & Alexander Fox Xanatos, Puck | Owen Burnett/David Xanatos
Comments: 170
Kudos: 53





	1. Prologue: Once Upon a Time

**Author's Note:**

  * For [paintedrecs](https://archiveofourown.org/users/paintedrecs/gifts).
  * Inspired by [All Is Mended](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22636003) by [paintedrecs](https://archiveofourown.org/users/paintedrecs/pseuds/paintedrecs). 



> So back in February, when [painted](https://archiveofourown.org/users/paintedrecs/pseuds/paintedrecs) originally finished watching Gargoyles for the first time and had murdered me with feels from her fics before I'd ever seen a single minute of the show, one of the things we discussed was Alex undoing Oberon's punishment on Puck when he was old enough and strong enough. I loved this idea more than words could say, and I figured "Hey, that'll probably be a short little one-shot, like maybe 3k-6k, I can do it after I actually watch the series." 
> 
> And then I started outlining the fic and thought "oh...maybe 10-15k." And then I started writing the fic and realized, no, there was not a way in hell I was getting out of this in under forty thousand words because do you know how many feelings I have about the Xanatos family in general and Alex and Owen in particular? 
> 
> (Well, you will, because I put 90% of them into this story right here.)
> 
> I'm just lucky it stayed under 50k, in all honesty.
> 
> Couple of other notes: 
> 
> 1) As in my other fics and based on painted's fics, Xanatos is poly and he and Fox have an open relationship.  
> 2) Since this is basically a sequel to painted's series [Then Fate O'errules](https://archiveofourown.org/series/1640824), Owen has Alex heal his stone hand when he's about eighteen months old. So pre-1998, Owen has the stone hand; after that, he doesn't.  
> 3) The working title of this fic was "Hey Oberon Fuck You" and I feel like that tells you everything you need to know about my state of mind while writing it. The actual title comes from _A Midsummer Night's Dream_ , like 90% of my Gargoyles fic titles. 
> 
> I hope you all enjoy!

_July 1997_

"Once upon a time, a king and a queen lived in a castle high above the clouds. It was a happy life, made even happier the day the queen learned she was going to have a baby. 

"But one person was more worried than excited at the joyous news: the king's most trusted knight. You see, Alex, the knight knew a secret about the queen, one _she_ didn't even know, and he was bound by a promise not to tell the king or queen the truth. And he knew this secret meant the king and queen could lose their child as soon as he was born.

"So while the king and queen made preparations for the birth of their child, the knight made preparations, too. He had sworn an oath to serve the king, and he was determined to uphold that oath as long as he could." 

Across the room, Owen cleared his throat. "Mr. Xanatos, I object to being a knight in this story." 

Xanatos raised his eyebrow at the interruption. "And when you're telling the bedtime story, Owen, you can be whatever role you like." He turned his attention back to his son, who had his head on Xanatos's shoulder and was idly kicking his side with one tiny foot. "Now, Alex, as I was saying, preparations were being made for the birth of the new prince. And on a rainy July night just like this one, the queen gave birth to a perfect little boy with all their family in attendance. It was a wonderful celebration."

He paced the room, hoping the movement would help Alex on the road to sleep. "But the knight had a warning for the king: _Do not leave your queen or your son alone with her mother_. The king took heed, because he trusted his knight, and soon the reason for his warning was revealed.

"The queen's mother was actually Titania, queen of the fairies, and she had come along with her first husband, Oberon, to take the new prince away from his parents and keep him on Avalon to learn magic."

Thunder rumbled outside and Alex fussed, and Xanatos bounced him a little to calm him down before he continued with the story. So nice of the weather to be atmospheric for the telling. 

"The king and queen were furious at Titania's deception and heartbroken at the thought of losing their son. They were given one hour to bid farewell before Oberon would return to take the child. 

"That was when the knight revealed that he had known the truth about Titania, that she might try to take the child, and showed the king the preparations he'd made. New defenses for the castle, all strong enough to keep Oberon and Titania out.

"The king was overjoyed at first, but his hopes were quickly dashed. For all the preparations he had made, the knight was leaving, and would not stay to fight at the king's side. Because you see, Alex, the knight had a secret, too: one the king knew, but one the knight had not revealed to anyone else. And that secret meant he could not stay to face Oberon."

Xanatos glanced at Owen, silhouetted against the window. He was studying the rain, ostensibly ignoring them, but Xanatos had known him long enough to know he was listening to every word. 

"The new defenses were indeed strong, and they kept Oberon at bay for quite some time. The queen's father also fought valiantly, as did the king's father, and as did the gargoyle clan who had once lived in the king's castle. But Oberon was too powerful, and they were all overwhelmed. And then, when all seemed lost…the knight returned. Just as the king had known he would. 

"The knight then revealed his own secret: that he was not merely a knight, but that he was a fairy as well, the most powerful of them all after Oberon and Titania."

Owen snorted. 

Xanatos continued, undeterred by the commentary. "And instead of pledging his allegiance to the fairy king, he had pledged his allegiance to a human one.

"Oberon was furious. He overpowered the knight and went to take the child. But the queen protected him still, and when Oberon tried to take her son, she tapped into her latent magic ability and blasted him through the wall." Xanatos grinned at the memory. "And it was _great_."

He made his way back toward the crib, since Alex was starting to get heavy and he'd stopped kicking in an effort to stay awake. Thank God, he might be out of here in under an hour for once. And he was definitely going to need a drink after all this talking. 

"Seeing this display of magic, the leader of the gargoyle clan approached Oberon with a bargain. There was no need to take the new prince to Avalon to learn magic if his mother was so powerful without any training at all. The new prince could be trained in the mortal world. He would need only a tutor, someone willing to stay behind. 

"The gargoyle suggested the knight stay with the king, and the knight agreed readily, for he very much wanted to stay. But Oberon's pride was deeply wounded, and he would not let this insult pass unpunished." 

Xanatos cleared his throat; the next part was always hard to tell, even when he was pretending it was just a bedtime story. 

"He banished the knight forever from Avalon and stripped him of all his power, to be used only when training or protecting the young prince. The knight begged him to reconsider, but when it became clear the only way Oberon would relent was if the knight and the prince went to Avalon, the knight accepted his punishment.

"And so the young prince stayed with his parents, to grow up smart and strong, and the knight stayed at the king's side for the rest of their lives. And the king was very happy, because the three people he loved the most in the world were still with him."

Alex's entire body had been slack for the past few minutes, and the only noise he made was deep, steady breathing. 

Xanatos exhaled with no small measure of relief. "He was _also_ very happy because the young prince was finally asleep, and that means Daddy and Owen get to go to bed now." 

He carefully laid Alex down in the crib and rested his hand on his tiny back for a moment, just to feel him breathing. "Good night, Alex." 

He looked over to Owen and nodded, and Owen turned out all the lamps but one. They crept out of the nursery and closed the door, and Xanatos thanked whoever was listening that he and Owen would have at least two hours of uninterrupted personal time. 

Owen cleared his throat. "You know, Mr. Xanatos, I believe those stories normally end with 'and they lived happily ever after.'" 

"Only if the story ends." Xanatos reached out and took his right hand. "And I think we're still in the middle of it, don't you?" 

It wasn't a lie, exactly. It was simply an omission. Xanatos couldn't very well claim that they _all_ lived happily ever after—although he himself was certainly going to—when he knew damn well what Owen had given up to stay with them. 

Owen arched a skeptical eyebrow at him, a sign that he had, as always, heard what wasn't said. Well, that _was_ part of why Xanatos loved him in the first place.

He lifted their hands so he could kiss the back of Owen's. "And they all lived happily for now?" 

That earned him one of Owen's rare soft smiles in return. "Yes, sir, I think they did."


	2. Chapter 2

_September 2009_

Alex kicked back from his desk and spun slowly in his chair, bored out of his skull. This early in the school year, homework was a cakewalk, after-school clubs hadn't started up yet, and sunset wasn't until 7:30. All of that left him with _nothing_ to do before dinner. 

He could read, but the idea of sitting still with a book didn't appeal right now. He could play video games, but it was boring playing video games by himself and he still wasn't allowed to play online without supervision. The last time he'd tried to get around that rule, it had unleashed a virus on his computer that had bricked it for _two weeks_. And _then_ when he'd complained about it, all three of his parents had said it was more effective than grounding. Alex had had to use one of Owen's laptops that was older than _he_ was to do his schoolwork and it couldn't run anything more complex than Solitaire. 

He kind of envied kids whose parents didn't know shit about technology. Sure, Alex had a TV in his room, three video game systems, and a new smartphone, but he couldn't get away with _anything_. 

He shoved out of his chair and flopped on his bed. When he was bored like this, about the only thing that sounded good was causing mischief, but Dad had straight-up forbidden him from causing chaos anywhere in the Eyrie Building during business hours. Alex never did any _bad_ mischief, really, but he and Dad had vastly different definitions of "bad" when it came to things that disrupted the business. 

"It's not like every printer in the building _needs_ to be working at once," Alex muttered to the ceiling. "And they weren't even venomous snakes!"

He dug out his phone to check the time. Business hours _technically_ ended in fifteen minutes. Dad was going to be in a board meeting until 6:30, and Mom was in Australia working on a research project that Alex was about seventy-five percent sure wouldn't end in the destruction of the world. Goliath wouldn't be awake until sunset and Aunt Elisa wouldn't be over until she got off shift. 

That left Owen. And Owen had just finished a big project yesterday, which meant he was _way_ more likely to help Alex cause mischief right now rather than trying to stop him. Besides, it had been _forever_ since they'd gotten to do magic together.

Alex jumped off his bed, shoved his phone in his pocket, and headed for Owen's office. 

Owen, not too surprisingly, was on the phone, standing behind his desk with his back to the door and talking about something that involved a lot of boring business words that ultimately boiled down to "we're taking over your company and there's nothing you can do about it." 

Alex closed the door very, very quietly and crept inside, watching to make sure Owen didn't suddenly turn around. Then he focused his magic and, a second later, floated up to the ceiling. 

He pulled himself along the wall, keeping an eye on Owen the entire time. Alex had gotten pretty good at sneaking up on just about everybody else—Mom, Dad, Aunt Elisa, the entire clan (with the exception of Hudson)—but Owen was the hardest to surprise. Alex had been trying for _years_ and still hadn't managed it. Hell, even with Hudson, he'd managed it once. Owen? Zero.

He crouched in the corner where the ceiling met the wall, just outside of Owen's line of sight, and waited. 

Owen said goodbye to whoever was on the other end of the line, flipped his phone shut, and turned back to the desk. "You can come down now, Alexander." 

Alex groaned and kicked off the wall to float down. "How did you know I was there?!"

Owen didn't look over from his computer, but he was smirking a little. "I heard you open the door." 

He had _not_ , the liar. "You did not. You were on the phone!" 

Owen just arched an eyebrow, and the smirk got bigger. 

More than once, Alex had heard Aunt Elisa mutter that she still couldn't believe Owen was Puck, even after thirteen years to get used to the idea. Alex had never understood how she _couldn't_ see it; that smile was the same no matter what Owen looked like. 

He'd try asking again, but Owen wouldn't tell him. Last time, he'd said Alex was old enough to start figuring that stuff out on his own. So instead, Alex sat on the edge of the desk. "Hey, Owen, come do magic with me." 

"You know the rules, Alexander," Owen said.

"During _business hours_." Alex fully emphasized the last two words. "Business hours end at five and it's three minutes after." 

Owen's expression didn't change much, but his lips twitched, just a bit. "I'm surprised it took you this long to find that particular loophole." 

"I figured it ages ago," Alex said. "I just haven't _used_ it yet. Come on, let's go do magic."

Owen slid a glance at him. "I'm still working." 

"You can take half an hour!" Alex argued. "Dad won't care."

"Your father's opinion on the matter has very little to do with it," Owen said. 

"But work is _boring_." Alex picked up a stapler and spun it around just a few inches above his fingers. "Magic is fun. Come _oooooon_. Please?" 

Owen drummed his fingers on the desk. "I suppose it's not a bad idea to do some more training with you." 

"What? No, not training!" Alex complained. 

Owen gave him a flat look. "If it's not training, then I'm afraid I can't do magic with you." 

Alex groaned and tossed the stapler aside. "Why does it always have to be training? Why can't it just be for fun?" 

Owen turned the computer monitor off and stood up. "Because one of my many duties is ensuring your continued magical education, and I take that seriously." 

He started for the door, and Alex hopped off the desk and followed him. "You don't _always_ have to take it seriously," Alex said. "You can have fun sometimes. You know, fun? Do you even remember what that _is_ anymore, Owen?" 

Owen paused at the door, his hand on the handle. "Apparently not," he said icily. "Now if you'll excuse me, I've got work to finish. Please don't hijack the printers again, or you will _not_ be happy with the consequences."

With that, Owen left, the door swinging shut behind him. 

Alex made a face up at the ceiling. _Don't hijack the printers_. Fine, he wouldn't hijack the stupid printers. 

The phones, on the other hand…well, Owen hadn't said anything about _those_ , had he? 

Alex grinned to himself and cracked his knuckles. Time to cause some chaos.

***

"You _fried_ my _Xbox?!_ " Alex shouted. 

" _You_ fried your Xbox," Dad said calmly, but it was that particular sort of calm tone that meant he was _pissed_. "You broke the rules." 

"I didn't break any rules!" Alex argued. "It was after business hours and Owen didn't say _crap_ about the phones!"

Dad smiled thinly. "Xanatos Enterprises is an _international_ corporation, Alex. Just because business hours are over in this time zone doesn't mean they're over in others." 

_Time zones_. What kind of bullshit excuse was that? 

Okay, it was exactly the kind of rules-lawyering his parents would come up with to close the loopholes Alex tried to exploit, but _still_. It was bullshit. "How the hell does messing with the phones with magic fry my Xbox?! They're not even connected to the same systems." 

Owen adjusted his glasses. "You forget your lessons, Alexander. Energy is energy, regardless of whether it's from science or magic."

Which meant they'd found _some_ way to connect his game systems to the rest of the Eyrie Building, so that if he screwed with the things he wasn't supposed to, it'd backfire on him and his stuff. Alex threw himself across his bed and glared at them both. "You guys are the _worst_." 

"We're your parents," Dad said. "Part of the job description. You're grounded for the next week, by the way. No games, no TV." 

Alex shot back up. " _What?!_ But—" 

Dad raised an eyebrow at him. "Keep it up and 'no gargoyles' gets added to the list." 

Alex snapped his mouth shut. He was pretty sure there was no way they'd stop him from seeing Lex, but Dad had the murder look on and even Alex wasn't stupid enough to try pushing his luck right now. 

"Smart kid." Dad started for the door. "Dinner's in fifteen minutes." 

"I'm not hungry," Alex retorted. 

Dad shrugged. "Suit yourself."

He held the door open for Owen and they left. Probably off to eat dinner and then call Mom and tell her what happened. Alex's instinct was to go to her and complain first, see if he could get her on his side before Dad and Owen got to her, but that hadn't worked once the few times he'd tried it, and _she'd_ probably ground him for another week on the principle of the thing. 

Alex scrubbed his hands over his face. Nobody on Earth needed three parents; why the hell had _he_ gotten stuck with them?

***

As soon as it was sunset, Alex left his room and bolted for the gargoyles' TV room. Goliath, Brooklyn, and Angela were on patrol tonight, which meant Hudson, Broadway, and Lex were watching the castle. Hudson wouldn't be a lot of help, but Lex and Broadway would commiserate with him. Alex might not have any biological siblings, but a gargoyle clan was the next best thing. 

Broadway looked up when he burst into the room. "Hey Alex! What's—uh-oh." 

"What's uh-oh?" Lex asked, and then he spotted Alex. "Uh-oh." 

Alex dropped on the floor next to them. "Parents are the _worst_. I got grounded. No TV and no games for a _week_ just because I messed with the phones a tiny bit." 

Lex and Broadway shared a look. "What did you do to the phones?" Lex asked. 

Alex shrugged. "I rickrolled them." 

Lex snorted. "That's pretty funny." 

"Right?! It's just harmless fun! But because it was during work hours in another _time zone_ , it fried my Xbox and now I'm grounded for a week." Alex flopped back on the floor to stare at the ceiling morosely. "This wouldn't have happened if Owen had been doing it with me, but noooo, he's a giant _fun suck_ now who won't do any magic if it isn't stupid training." 

"But he can't do magic unless he's training you," Broadway said, and then yelped. 

Alex blinked and sat up. "Wait, what?" 

Lex was glaring at Broadway, and Broadway was very guiltily looking everywhere but Alex. 

Alex narrowed his eyes at both of them. "What do you mean, Owen _can't_ do magic unless he's training me?"

"Nothing," Lex said _way_ too quickly. "It's nothing. Broadway, move over and help me get this game set up." 

They were hiding something. "Oh, no, you don't." Alex turned so he was facing both of them fully. "What are you talking about? Why can't Owen use magic unless he's training me? It doesn't work that way." 

It didn't. They _had_ to be lying. Alex had seen Owen use magic _loads_ of times, for as long as he could remember. Not all those times had been when he was in training. 

…They hadn't, had they? 

Lex and Broadway shared another look, but this one was a lot more worried than the previous one. "It's just. Uh. The way things are," Lex said. 

Broadway nodded. "Ever since you were born and—"

Lex elbowed him and hissed, "Shut _up!_ "

" _What?!_ " Alex jumped to his feet. "What the hell are you talking about? What does me being born have to do with it?" A new, cold fear gripped his heart. "Did I…take his magic somehow? Or—" 

"Lads, stop your yammering," Hudson said from his recliner. "Alexander, come here." 

Alex whirled around to him. "But—" 

" _Alexander_. I'll not argue with you." 

Alex glared at Lex and Broadway—they were his friends; _they_ weren't supposed to hide things from him—and walked over to Hudson's recliner. Bronx lifted his head and licked Alex's hand once he was close enough, and then settled back down with a soft _woof_. 

Hudson paused the TV and set the remote back on the arm of the chair, and then regarded Alex steadily. "I'm going to tell you something that I promised many years ago not to tell you, because _certain gargoyles_ don't know how to keep their mouths shut." 

Very quiet apologies came from Broadway and Lex, but Alex couldn't take his eyes off Hudson. "What did you promise not to tell me? Why? What—" 

Hudson arched a brow, and Alex cut himself off. 

"Because there are certain stories you don't tell without permission from those involved," Hudson said. "But you are getting older, and there's things that can't be kept from you forever." 

Alex had a very, very bad feeling in the pit of his stomach. 

Hudson settled back in his chair. "How much do you know about the night you were born?" 

Alex shifted his weight from foot to foot. "Uh. I know that's when Mom and Dad found out Grandma was really Titania and that I was part-fae, so Owen volunteered to be my tutor so I could learn magic." 

It was an explanation he'd mostly accepted without question before now, but given the look on Hudson's face, Alex was guessing there was a _lot_ more to the story. 

"That's all true enough," Hudson finally said. "But there's more to it than that. Titania and Oberon intended to take you to Avalon after you were born. Without your parents' knowledge or permission." 

Alex's stomach turned over. "What?" 

"They thought, if you stayed here, you'd be unable to use magic at all," Hudson said. "So they were going to take you to Avalon to raise you and train you."

"Mom and Dad wouldn't let them do that," Alex said faintly. 

Hudson snorted. "Damn right they wouldn't. But Oberon is the most powerful of the Third Race. There was only so much your father's machines and scheming could do against him, even with our help. Even Puck, at his full power, wasn't strong enough to stop him from going to take you." 

"Then what did?" Alex asked. 

"Fox, when she blasted Oberon with magic for getting too close to you. Knocked him clean through a wall, Goliath said." Hudson half-smiled. "I do wish I'd been there to see it. But it was proof that even with no training in our world, Fox still could use magic. So Goliath argued there wasn't sense in taking you to Avalon when you could be trained right here and stay with your family. You just needed a tutor." 

Alex knew that part. "Yeah, Owen. So it all worked out." 

"Would have, if Oberon hadn't been furious that Puck _wanted_ to stay here," Hudson said.

Alex's mouth went dry. "But...but why would he be mad about _that?_ "

Hudson linked his fingers and settled them on his stomach. "The way I understand it, Oberon banished all the Children from Avalon a thousand years ago—well, longer now—because Titania slighted him some way and he wanted to teach them all humility. But they were all to return when he summoned them for The Gathering. Puck did not return. That's why Oberon had come here in the first place." Hudson met his eyes again. "Titania was here for you, but Oberon was looking for Puck. And he was mighty displeased Puck had gone and bound himself to a human." 

Alex's fingers were suddenly cold, the bad feeling in the pit of his stomach getting worse and worse with everything Hudson told him. He _knew_ how the Children of Oberon were; Owen hadn't skipped on explaining how petty they could be and how far they'd go to seek revenge when they'd been wronged. But it had never occurred to him that Owen might have been on the receiving end of that. 

Hudson sighed. "It all worked out for everyone except Oberon. He wanted you and Puck, and he got neither. And so when Puck agreed to stay here, Oberon punished him. Banished him from Avalon forever and stripped him of all his magic. He can only use it when he's training or protecting you. Otherwise, he's just human."

Somewhere in the back of Alex's mind, a long-forgotten memory resurfaced, a bedtime story Dad used to tell him about a king and a queen and a knight and a castle high above the clouds. He'd stopped as Alex had gotten older, which Alex always figured was because he was getting too old for bedtime stories, but it must've been because Dad didn't want him putting two and two together. 

Now it all came screaming back, aligning with what Hudson had told him, and Alex could only stand there as the pieces clicked into place. "He just…took Owen's magic away? Because he wanted to stay _here_ with me and Dad and Mom?" 

"Aye," Hudson said. 

"That's _bullshit!_ " Alex shouted. 

Hudson patted his shoulder. "Language, lad." 

"It is!" Alex whirled around to Lex and Broadway, who were trying to look like they weren't paying attention and failing at it. "That's bullshit, isn't it?" 

"You won't get any argument from us," Lex said. "Oberon was, uh…" 

"A big blue jerk," Broadway supplied. 

Lex shrugged. "Yeah, to put it nicely." 

Alex was shaking. He didn't think he'd ever been this angry in his life. "It's not fair! Owen didn't deserve that!" 

Hudson rubbed a hand over his face. "If there's one thing you're going to learn, it's that for better or worse, we rarely get what we deserve in life. But I didn't tell you this to make you angry. I told you so you'd understand. That's why it has to be training. He can't do magic at all if it's not." 

It put Alex's fight with Owen into a new light, one that left him feeling sick to his stomach. "Oh."

Hudson patted him on the shoulder. "It's fine, lad. You didn't know, and he knows that. And you're not going to go telling him you know now, understand?" 

"But—" Alex started. 

"No buts," Hudson said. "You give me your word that you'll not go telling him until he comes and talks to you, understood?"

It sounded like a big thing to hide, but Hudson was _probably_ Owen's best friend after Dad; Alex was reasonably sure that he knew what he was asking. "Okay, I won't." 

Hudson settled back into his chair and picked up the remote again. "Good lad." 

Alex sank to the floor and leaned against Bronx, who whined and licked his arm, like he knew Alex was feeling awful right now. "I can't believe they never told me." 

"They had their reasons," Hudson said. "May not be reasons I agreed with, but they were reasons." 

Alex looped his arm around Bronx to scratch behind his ears. "What were they?" 

"Those, I think, you'll need to get from your parents," Hudson said. "They'll be able to explain it properly, anyway." 

Alex debated trying to wheedle Hudson into telling him anyway, but that seemed like way more effort than he could possibly put into anything right now. What he _wanted_ to do was run to Owen and apologize, but to do that, he'd probably have to explain why, and he'd just promised Hudson that he wouldn't do that. 

Someone touched his shoulder, and he looked up to see Lex standing over him, with a sympathetic smile on his face. "Hey. You want to play some games before I've got to go to work?" 

Alex shook his head. He didn't think he could concentrate on games right now. 

Lex nodded, like he'd expected that answer, and went back to the other TV with Broadway. 

"I'm sorry, Alex," Broadway said quietly.

"It's okay," Alex said, and hugged Bronx harder. 

It wasn't okay, not by a long shot, but he was glad he knew. He loved his parents and he knew they loved him, but he couldn't _imagine_ why the hell they hadn't told him the truth about this. 

He buried his face in Bronx's back and started thinking about how he could make it up to Owen for being a pretty big jerk himself.

***

Alex sat on the floor with Bronx and watched murder mysteries with Hudson until his phone alarm went off with the reminder that it was time to get ready for bed. Usually Alex fought it so he could have longer to hang out, but tonight he was too drained. Bed actually sounded good for once, although getting up in the morning for school didn't.

He had just finished brushing his teeth and was getting ready to crawl into bed when someone knocked on his door. "Who is it?" Alex called.

"It's Owen." 

Alex sat down hard on his bed, suddenly nervous, his mind running in a million different directions and _none_ of them conducive to having a conversation where he had to hide something big. "Come in." 

Owen opened the door and stepped inside. He crossed only part of the room, and stood there stiffly, hands clasped behind his back. "Hudson tells me that you two had a conversation earlier." 

_Oh thank God_. "He told you everything?" 

"He did."

Alex sat there for a minute, trying to sort his thoughts and feelings into actual words. "How come you guys never told me?" 

"That was my request," Owen said quietly. "I worried you might blame yourself, and I didn't want that." 

Alex frowned. "Why the hell would I blame myself? I was a baby. I wasn't even like six hours old! It's not my fault Oberon's a giant pissy douchebag." 

Owen smiled slightly. "Indeed. My apologies, Alexander. We shouldn't have kept it from you." 

Alex fidgeted with the edge of the comforter. "I'm sorry, too. For all the stuff I said earlier. That was a jerk move."

"It's all right," Owen said. "After two decades with Xanatos Enterprises, I'm very adept at dealing with jerk moves." 

It wasn't _really_ funny, but Alex smiled anyway. He recognized an olive branch when he saw one. "Yeah, I imagine Dad's made a million of them." 

Owen sighed. "You really have no idea." 

Oh, Alex had some idea. He was _pretty_ sure the gargoyles and Aunt Elisa hadn't told him everything, but he'd heard enough to know that what he knew as his family—Mom, Dad, Owen, and the clan—hadn't been so until several months after he'd been born. 

Owen cleared his throat. "Did you have anything else you wanted to ask about that night?" 

Alex sat up. "Really? The way Hudson sounded, I didn't think you'd want to talk about it." 

Owen glanced away. "I don't, particularly. But…we kept it from you when we should not have. And I'd prefer you to hear it from me, rather than getting it from a third party." 

Okay, that was fair. Alex scooted over on his bed in case Owen wanted to sit down and considered all the questions that had been battering his mind since Hudson had told him what really happened. "Do you regret it?" 

"No," Owen said, without even a second's hesitation. 

Alex didn't believe that for a minute. "What, really? Not even a little? You can't go back home! You can't use magic whenever you want! That's bull—" 

"Yes, Hudson informed me of your choice of words when you found out," Owen said dryly. He pushed his glasses up on his nose, and then walked to the bed and sat beside Alex. "No, I don't regret it. I miss those things, yes, but even if I had known what Oberon's punishment would be, I would have made the same choice."

"Why?" Alex asked. 

"Because the alternative would have been untenable," Owen said simply. "You and I would have been trapped on Avalon for eternity. You would never have even known your parents, and I would never have seen your father again." 

Alex stared at the wall, processing the idea of never knowing Mom and Dad. Even though Hudson had _told_ him Titania and Oberon had tried to take him, he hadn't quite grasped what that _meant_. "Oh. That…that would suck." 

"Yes, it would," Owen said. "You are right that Avalon was my home, but I had already determined I was not returning for the Gathering if I could help it. At that point, it had been a thousand years since I'd set foot on the island. And," he looked down at his hands, opening and closing them, and Alex caught the glint of the ring he wore on his left one, "I found a new home in the meantime. One I was not willing to relinquish that easily." 

"Yeah, but you didn't want to give up Avalon _forever_ , did you?" Alex asked. 

"No, I didn't," Owen admitted. 

The same anger Alex had felt earlier surged back full force. "It's not _right._ You were banished and had your magic taken away because Oberon's a sore loser and a jealous pissbaby? That's bullshit!" 

Owen pressed his fingers to the bridge of his nose. "I find myself astoundingly grateful you weren't old enough to talk back then." 

Alex crossed his arms. "You know I'm right." 

"I didn't say that you weren't," Owen said. "But I've told you how the Children are, and Oberon is perhaps the worst of them all in that regard." 

"If there were a way to undo what he did, where you weren't banished and you had your magic back, would you do it?" Alex pressed. 

Owen shook his head. "It doesn't matter." 

"What?" Alex drew back. "How does it not _matter?_ " 

"Because the only way to undo it is to go through Oberon himself," Owen said, "and he would either refuse outright or demand something in return that I wouldn't want to give up. Either you or your father or—" He cut himself off with a sharp exhale. "Yes, I miss being able to transform at will. I miss being able to do magic for fun and I miss that I've never gotten to do that with you. But I have a life here, a _family_ here, and that is more important to me. I cannot lose that." He finally looked over to Alex again. "Do you understand, Alexander?" 

Alex's throat was trying to close up. He tried to talk anyway. "It wasn't a choice. It was a punishment." 

"I know. I accepted it regardless." 

Alex leaned over into Owen's side and waited the two seconds it always took for Owen to relax and put an arm around him, and then he buried his face in the fabric of Owen's jacket and pretended that he wasn't crying. He couldn't imagine his life without his mom and dad, no, but he couldn't imagine life without _Owen_ , either. Owen had been there as long as Alex could remember, just as much of a parental unit as Mom and Dad were. And Oberon had tried to take Alex away from all of them, _would_ have if Owen hadn't chosen to stay. Chosen to stay and lost everything else in the process. 

"Oberon's a dick," Alex finally managed to say, his voice muffled by Owen's jacket. 

"Your parents have expressed similar sentiments," Owen said. 

Alex hugged him. "I'm glad you stayed." 

The arm around his shoulders tightened a fraction. "Me, too." Owen cleared his throat. "And now I'm reasonably sure it's past your bedtime." 

Alex screwed up his face and sat back up, looking away while he wiped his face on his T-shirt. "I'm thirteen. I don't need a bedtime anymore." 

"As long as you have to be up for school by six-thirty, you have one." Owen stood up and straightened his jacket. "Good night, Alexander." 

"G'night, Owen." 

Alex watched Owen leave, closing the door firmly behind him, before he flopped back into his bed and turned out the lights. Of course, that didn't actually help him fall asleep, not when he was back to being pissed off again. He pushed his face into his pillow and shouted with the outrage of it all. 

It wasn't right, it _still_ wasn't right, no matter what Owen said. He shouldn't have been punished for choosing to stay. He deserved better than that. 

He deserved to have a real choice. 

And Alex was going to find a way to make sure he got it.


	3. Alex's First Word

_November 1996  
_  
There was a screaming baby outside Owen's office. 

This was not a particularly new development; while Alexander was a perfectly cheerful child most of the time, he still had many moments where he determined the best way to convey his feelings was to do so at the top of his lungs, which were quite powerful for belonging to someone so tiny. 

Usually Owen could work through the disruption, but today the screaming only seemed to be getting louder. Particularly distracting when the party on the other end of the phone was on the opposite side of the world. 

"If you'll excuse me," Owen said, when he couldn't take it one second longer. "There's a small situation at the office. I'll call you back the moment it's resolved." 

He didn't wait for confirmation; he hung up the phone and stalked out of his office, following the source of the screaming. 

It didn't take long for him to find Fox and Xanatos just down the hall, Xanatos holding a red-faced and sobbing Alexander in his arms with the panicked look of a man who'd just been handed a live grenade and told he had ten seconds to defuse it. 

" _What_ is going on?" Owen asked. 

"I don't know!" Fox said. "He was fine up until five minutes ago, and then he started asking for 'puh' and we haven't been able to figure out what he means." 

Alexander let out a wail and dove to the side, arms outstretched toward Owen; Xanatos barely managed to keep him from diving straight into the ground. " _Puuuuhhhhh!_ " 

Xanatos grunted. "He's a very _focused_ child."

"With you two as his parents? I'm stunned." Owen held out his hands. He doubted _he_ would be able to do much, but one never knew. 

Xanatos handed Alexander over, and Alexander immediately planted his face on Owen's jacket, smearing tears and snot over the fabric.

Owen mentally thanked the fates that he didn't have any more in-person meetings today and made a note to add this jacket to the rapidly growing pile for the dry cleaner.

Alexander sat back up with a grin, his tantrum apparently forgotten, and patted Owen's cheek with one pudgy baby hand. "Puh!" 

"I do not know why you think _I_ know what you want," Owen told him. "I've been in the office all day." 

This did not concern Alexander in the least, because he grinned bigger and kept patting Owen's cheek. "Puh! Puh." 

"Of course," Xanatos said. "He wants you."

Owen frowned. "Sir?"

But Xanatos was looking at him with a cross between incredulity and wonder, with a soft smile that always hooked somewhere deep in Owen's chest. "Owen. He's saying 'Puck.'"

"Puh!" Alexander said brightly. 

Owen stared at him, trying to sort the new feeling in his chest that was suddenly making it very hard to breathe. "…Oh."

Fox crossed her arms and shook her head with a little laugh. "Well, congratulations, Owen. Looks like you're his first word." 

Owen cleared his throat and held Alexander up so he could regard him properly. "We'll need to discuss the correct use of names with you. In this form, I'm _Owen_."

Alexander kicked his legs. "Puh." 

Owen sighed and put Alexander back on his hip. "I suppose that lesson will have to wait until you're old enough for two-syllable words."

Alexander giggled and seized Owen's tie in one tiny fist, shoving the entire thing in his mouth and chewing.

Another thing for the dry cleaner pile. Even so, Owen couldn't summon the slightest bit of requisite irritation. 

He nodded to Fox and Xanatos. "If you'll excuse me. I have a phone call I need to return." 

"You want us to watch him?" Xanatos asked. 

Owen raised an eyebrow at him, and then at Alexander, who was still happily playing with his tie and was, blessedly, very quiet. "I think we'll be fine, Mr. Xanatos."


	4. Chapter 4

_October 2009_

Having a goal was all well and good, Alex thought, but coming up with a plan for it was a lot of hard work, especially when you couldn't tell anybody _about_ the plan. Sure, getting Owen's magic back was a good goal—some might even say _admirable_ —but it wasn't going to work if he couldn't figure out how to do it in the first place. 

He thought he might be able to undo the curse himself, but that was _extremely_ unlikely. Every lesson he'd ever had, Owen had emphasized that the only one who could unto a Child of Oberon's curse was the one who'd cast it. Maybe Alex would be able to find a way around that eventually, but not right now. 

Which meant the _only_ way to help Owen was to get Oberon to rescind the punishment. And with what he'd heard from everybody who'd faced Oberon, getting him to change his mind out of the goodness of his heart was a lost cause. 

Alex tapped a pencil on his notebook and went through his ideas again, the same ones he'd been mulling over for the past week and a half. One—"ask nicely"—he'd already scratched through, since that was pretty much impossible. Two—using the iron bell that Aunt Elisa had told him about—had gotten the same treatment. The Avalon Clan had promised never to use it again, and while Alex could work with that loophole— _he_ wasn't part of that clan and hadn't made that promise—he was positive Oberon would turn on the clan in revenge. Sure, Dad would welcome them all to the Eyrie Building without a second thought, but getting an entire clan of humans and gargoyles kicked out of their home so that Owen could get his magic back wasn't a good trade. And Owen would be pissed Alex had done it. 

Three—trying to undo it himself—had a question mark beside it. Even if it was unlikely, Alex hesitated to take it off the list entirely. Yes, he _knew_ what Owen had said, but…Alex's magic wasn't from just any Child. Titania was his grandmother, and she was the only one close to Oberon's strength. If anybody would be strong enough to undo one of Oberon's punishments, it would be Titania. Which meant Alex might have a chance as well. The only problem with that was he'd need to learn _way_ more magic to figure out how to do it, if it was even possible.

Which left him, once again, staring at item number four on the list. 

_Beat Oberon in a fight and make him give it back._

Okay, yeah, on the surface it sounded just as impossible as any of the others. He'd heard what Hudson had said, how Oberon had ripped through the castle's defenses and wiped the floor with everybody, how it was just sheer luck that Mom had gone all adrenaline-fueled mama bear and blasted him through a wall. 

But that was the thing. Mom—mostly human, with no magical training whatsoever—had been strong enough to hurt Oberon. Strong enough to give Goliath the idea for the compromise, and for it to be a legitimate option. 

Alex was stronger. 

He had thirteen years of magical training behind him, under the instruction of the most powerful of Oberon's Children outside of Oberon and Titania. With a few more years of training, who knew how strong he'd be? Especially if he was training with his eye toward a goal like this. 

Mom had told him once that the night he was born, his grandmother had said he had great potential. Owen had often told him that he was a quick study, learning magic as fast as Owen could teach it. And Dad's favorite lesson was if at first you don't succeed, find the silver lining and try again a different way. 

The biggest problem with number four was that Alex…didn't actually know much about fighting. Sure, he could throw a punch—Mom had made sure of _that_ early on—but this was going to require more than just punching. He'd need to strategize, to think on the fly, to be able to adapt to facing an opponent who was bigger and stronger and more powerful than himself. 

Fortunately, Alex lived in a castle full of people who knew how to do just that. He'd have to be careful about how he asked, but…

But he could do it. And he could get strong enough to become a force to be reckoned with. Even for Oberon. 

Alex circled the words over and over, until his fingers and the page were smeared with lead, until those eleven words stood out more than all the others.

_Beat Oberon in a fight and make him give it back._

Alex set the pencil down. "I'm coming for you," he told the words. "And I'm going to make you regret the day you ever messed with my family."

***

It was about a week into October when Mom finally got back from Australia, right as Alex was getting back from school. He spotted her helicopter landing in the courtyard, threw his backpack to the side, and sprinted across the atrium, teleporting through the doors and across the courtyard when he decided he wasn't moving fast enough. " _Mom!_ You're back!"

She stepped out of the helicopter and laughed when he threw his arms around her. "Hey, kiddo. How are you?" 

"Good." Alex stepped back. "I thought you weren't getting back until tonight?" 

She reached back into the helicopter and pulled out a suitcase. "I got lucky and got an earlier flight." 

Alex hopped into the helicopter and started passing her the rest of her bags. "You've been gone _forever_." 

Mom ruffled his hair. "I was gone three weeks." 

Alex ducked away and tried to comb it back into place with one hand while he was pushing bags toward her with the other. " _Mom_." 

She grinned and went back to unloading the helicopter. "I missed you, too. Where's your dad?"

"Video conference call with Owen." Alex checked around and didn't see any more bags, so he hopped back out and grabbed two of Mom's suitcases. "They'll be off in like half an hour. Want me to help you with these?" 

Mom eyed him. "I do, but I find myself wondering to what do I owe this sudden bout of helpfulness?" 

"I'm helpful!" Alex argued. 

"Mm-hmm, especially when you want something." Mom put a hand on her hip. "Out with it." 

Alex put on his very best guileless look. "What, a kid can't want to help his mom bring her suitcases in when she's been gone for three whole, endless weeks?" 

Mom didn't look remotely moved. 

It was _crap_ that his parents knew him so well. Alex groaned. "Okay, _fine_ , I have a favor to ask. But I can help you bring your suitcases in first." He put all the suitcases together and snapped his fingers, sending them straight to her bedroom. "See?" 

"Mm, thanks." Mom looped her arm around his shoulders and steered him toward the castle. "Now what is it you want?" 

Okay. Go time. "I was thinking maybe you could teach me how to fight." 

Mom stopped in her tracks and stared at him. " _You_ want to learn how to fight?" 

"What?" Alex shrugged and kept walking; he didn't dare look Mom full in the face right now. "It's a reasonable thing to want to learn! Especially since the Quarrymen are still around." 

"Still around, but hardly the same kind of threat that they were when you were a baby." She caught up with him inside the atrium and touched his arm. "Is someone bothering you at school? Is that what this is about?" 

Ugh, of course she was getting worried. Alex shook his head. "No! No, it's not that. I just thought it would be a good thing for me to learn, that's all. You know how to fight, Dad knows, Owen knows, Aunt Elisa knows, the clan all knows…" 

"I didn't say it was bad," Mom said. "I'd have started teaching you years ago if I thought you wanted to learn. But you're the one who's been solving problems without violence since punching got you sent to the principal's office a few too many times. What changed?" 

Alex shoved his hands in his pockets and tried to think of a way around the real answer. "I just…found a problem that can't be solved any other way."

Mom raised an eyebrow. "Alex, what's going on?"

This was going worse than he'd thought it would. "It's nothing!" Alex insisted.

Mom crossed her arms and gave him the _I don't buy that for a second_ look. "Okay. Let's try a different question. Why don't you want to tell me what's going on?" 

Alex dragged his hand through his hair and ran through his options. Of the people he knew, Mom would be the best to teach him how to fight—he wasn't nearly as big as Dad and Owen and the gargoyles pretty much all relied on brute strength, which Alex didn't have. He really needed her help. 

However, he couldn't see _any_ of his parents being okay with the idea of him fighting Oberon. Well, Dad might, but Dad would tell Owen because Dad told Owen _everything_ and then Owen would absolutely flip out. Mom probably would keep it quiet, but…

"Alex," Mom said gently. 

Alex took a deep breath. "I don't want to tell you because either you won't help me, or you'll try to stop me. Nothing's happening to _me_ ," he assured her, "but…someone else needs help. I mean. He wouldn't say that he needs help but he gave up a lot to help me when he shouldn't have _had_ to and I want to fix it. I want to make it so that he can get the things he gave up _back_ without having to lose anything else." 

Mom nodded slowly. "And you think I'll try to stop you from doing this because…?" 

"Because it's dangerous," Alex admitted. "It's…really dangerous. And it'll be a few years at least before I can even _think_ about trying it because I _know_ I can't do it now. But I was hoping…with your help…maybe I could." 

"So you have to fight someone, in order to help this…person," Mom said, with a tone that made Alex ninety percent sure she knew exactly what he was talking about.

"Yeah," Alex said.

"And the person you want to help," she continued, "does he know that you're doing this?" 

He shook his head vehemently. "No. Not at all. Because he would _flip_ and he'd _definitely_ try to stop me." 

And of the three of his parents, Owen was the one who probably _could_.

Mom regarded him with an expression Alex had never seen before. She looked…sad? But it was more than that. "Okay." 

Alex blinked, caught off-guard. "Wait, what?" 

She smiled at him. "I'll teach you how to fight."

Alex let out a whoop and threw his arms around her. "Are you serious?!" 

Mom hugged him. "I'm serious. But you have to promise me two things." 

Alex nodded. "Anything. I will do _anything_ you ask." 

"One, you have to promise that you'll keep searching for another way," she said. "And if you find a way that _doesn't_ involve you going up against someone dangerous, you do that instead."

He thought back to item number three on his list. "I can do that." 

"Two," Mom pulled back and leaned over just enough to look him in the eye, "you _will not_ start a fight unless you're positive you can win."

"But—" Alex started.

Mom shook her head. "I know you want to take care of this fast, and you've got a lot of advantages other kids don't have. But you're still thirteen. If you need to wait five or ten _years_ to make sure you can win, you need to. Because you have _no idea_ what you will lose if you lose, do you understand me?" 

She was looking at him like she was trying to bore the words through his skull, and Alex wasn't sure if he'd ever heard her sound this serious in his life. If he lost…there was no telling what Oberon would do to him. Or what he'd take away. 

Alex set his jaw and nodded once. "I promise."

Mom's shoulders dropped, and she hugged him again. "Good." 

It was a small thing to promise, all things considered, especially to get Mom's help. "So when do we get started?" Alex asked. 

Mom laughed. "After I've slept off the jet lag. Tomorrow or the day after." 

"Great!" Alex snagged his backpack from where he'd thrown it after getting off the elevators. "I'll be ready." 

"It'll be hard," Mom warned. "And I'm not going easy on you."

He hadn't expected her to. That was another good thing about his parents: none of them treated him like a kid, acting like he couldn't handle something just because he was young. Alex saluted her. "Didn't think you would." 

"Go on, go get started on your homework." Mom pushed him toward the bedrooms. "I'm going to go surprise your dad." 

"I'm going!" Alex turned so he was walking backward. "I missed you." 

Mom smiled. "Missed you, too, kiddo." 

Alex turned back around and headed toward his bedroom. He'd gotten Mom to agree to help him _without_ telling her what was actually going on, and even if she guessed, she hadn't pushed. Possibly so she could maintain plausible deniability if Dad or Owen asked. 

One down, two to go. And those two were going to be uh...harder. 

Alex cracked his knuckles. He could do this.

***

He went back and forth on whether to talk to Dad or Owen next, and decided on Dad. Alex had a feeling this was going to be harder than asking Mom to help him learn to fight, since building a robot suit wasn't exactly something Alex could come up with a plausible reason for needing beyond "it would be really awesome." 

But Owen had spent _years_ drilling the concept into him that energy was energy wherever it came from. While Alex knew his parents had mostly used that knowledge to fight magic with science, it also followed that you could use science to give magic a boost, and vice versa. And if Alex was going up against Oberon, he'd need all the boosts he could get. A suit like his dad used could really fit the bill. 

Only maybe a lot less Goliath and a lot more Iron Man. If he was going to make a battle suit, he was going to make it _cool_.

Finding a time to talk to Dad one-on-one was usually a challenge in and of itself, but Dad was cooking dinner that night. He and Owen usually handled the cooking, and Mom only stepped in occasionally. Alex, meanwhile, got roped into chopping vegetables on a regular basis. Sometimes that was annoying, but tonight it meant he had the perfect opportunity to talk his dad into helping him build a suit. He just had to figure out how to bring it up without Dad getting suspicious of why he was asking. 

So he was _thrilled_ when Dad brought the suits up himself. 

Dad was pulling the bowl of chicken and buttermilk out of the fridge when it came up. "Alex, can you make a note to tell Owen that we need to get the battle armor out of storage this weekend and make sure it's still in working order?" 

"Sure." Alex stopped peeling potatoes long enough to dry his hand on his pants and enter the reminder into his phone, hoping that by keeping his head down Dad wouldn't see how excited he was. "Hey, how come you never like…mass-produced the battle armor?" 

"It's too costly." Dad washed his hands and put the chicken pieces in the big bag of flour and spices. "It has to be custom-made for each person. There's no way to mass-produce it." 

Alex finished peeling the last of his pile of potatoes and started chopping them up. "How come you never made any for Mom?" 

"She didn't want it," Dad said. "And neither did Owen, before you ask. We did make one for Dingo—you remember him?"

Alex nodded; that was the friend Mom sometimes visited when she went to Australia. He'd been doing the superhero gig down there for as long as Alex could remember. Alex had only met him in person once, though. 

"He's the only other one, though." Dad took the chicken over to the skillet and carefully put the pieces in the hot oil. "Kind of a shame, really. Technology has advanced so much in the past fifteen years. There's so much more we could _do_ with a suit now. Rebuilding and tweaking my own is fine, but it would be nice to have someone else using one. We could get so much more data that way." 

Alex was going to vibrate out of his _skin_. "What about me?" 

Dad was, thankfully, looking at the chicken and not at Alex. "What about you?" 

"We could build a suit for me!" Alex said. "It would be _so cool!_ " 

Dad spun around and dropped a piece of chicken in the skillet, splattering hot oil. " _What?_ " 

Alex pointed at the skillet. "Dad, chicken!" 

Dad swore under his breath and grabbed a pair of tongs to rearrange the chicken, and then covered the skillet and turned back to Alex. "Alex, you don't need battle armor." 

"You don't either," Alex pointed out. 

"That's not true," Dad said over his shoulder.

"When was the last time you even used it?" Alex asked.

Dad opened his mouth, closed it again, and turned back to the chicken for a solid minute even though there was nothing to do to it. 

Alex rolled his eyes and went back to chopping up the potatoes. 

"It's more than just that," Dad finally said. "You're thirteen. You're still growing. That kind of armored suit is easy to build for me, but for you...we'd be redoing it every six months minimum. Probably more, if you were in a growth spurt." 

Alex dumped his chopped potatoes into the pot of water and turned it on. "So? You rebuild your own that often, don't you?" 

"Not that often, and not to that extent." Dad drummed his fingers on the counter. "Although I suppose if we went with a nanotech suit, that would solve those problems. But even with the advances there in the past several years, it's not as sturdy as a traditional steel suit would be." 

"Could we make it segmented or something?" Alex asked. "So like...if it needs to grow, we don't have to build it from scratch; we just have to take apart a piece and add in extra. I'm not going to grow _that_ fast." 

"I...hm." Now Dad had his problem-solving face on. "That couldwork. And it would be much easier than building the entire thing from scratch. Might sacrifice some durability, but not as much as using a nanotech armor. And we might find ways to compensate in the building of it." 

Holy cow, Alex might actually get this suit without having to do any of the talking himself. "So you think we could do it?" 

"I don't think. I know we could do it." Dad studied Alex, this time assessing. "You sure this is something you're interested in?" 

Alex nodded and hoped he didn't look _too_ eager. "Yeah! It'd be awesome!" 

"It's a lot of work on top of school," Dad warned. "If your grades drop, we'll have to put it on hold." 

"They won't," Alex assured him. His grades had never once been an issue and he didn't see that changing, even once he was in high school. "You'll seriously let me help build a set of battle armor?" 

Dad laughed. "Yes, I'll seriously let you help build a set of battle armor."

Alex punched the air. " _Yes!_ " 

Dad raised his eyebrows. "I had no idea you were this interested in robotics." 

_Shit_. He had to think fast. "I'm interested in having a set of _badass armor_ ," Alex said. "Do you think I can use it for a science project?" 

"Not with the number of waivers the school would make us sign," Dad said. "Go tell your mom and Owen dinner will be ready in about twenty minutes." 

"Okay!" Alex said, and darted out of the kitchen before his dad could change his mind. 

That had gone _so_ much better than he'd expected. Alex had figured he'd have to do more talking, find an argument that _wasn't_ just about how cool it would be and hope that Dad didn't question him too much. Alex had gotten better at hiding things from his parents, but they were still—wisely—suspicious of him a lot of the time. 

That left him with just one person to approach. And that one was going to be the hardest of all.


	5. The Pitfalls of Teleportation

_March 1999_

Xanatos was dreaming. 

Or at least, he was reasonably sure he was dreaming. He was drifting in that middle area between sleeping and waking, just aware enough to register he'd moved away from Owen at some point. Hm. He should fix that, as soon as he woke up enough to move his limbs. 

He had the strange sensation that someone was watching him. Well, maybe not entirely strange; he wasn't alone in the bed, after all. 

Xanatos rolled onto his back and half-opened his eyes. There was a pale face floating in the air three feet above him, and it took Xanatos a few seconds too long to realize that face didn't belong to Owen. 

_What the—_

"DADDY!" 

Xanatos went directly from half-asleep to fully awake, aided by the full weight of a 30-pound toddler landing directly on his chest and a _heart attack_. Beside him, Owen shot straight up like someone had jabbed a cattle prod in his back.

It took every ounce of brainpower Xanatos possessed to keep from swearing out loud. " _Fu—_ Alex!" 

Alex sat up on him and patted Xanatos's chest. "Hi, Daddy." 

His heart rate was still about twice what it should've been, although it was slowly making its way back to normal. "Alex, what are you doing here? How did you get _in_ here?" 

Xanatos was reasonably sure, even half-awake, he'd have heard the door open. Alex wasn't exactly _quiet_ when he entered a room.

"I te'ported," Alex said. 

Xanatos blinked. "You…teleported?" 

"Yeah," Alex said. 

"And when did you learn to teleport?" Xanatos asked, as much a question for Owen as for his son. 

"Puck taught me," Alex said, like that was an actual answer for the question _when_.

Owen scrubbed his hands over his face. "Something Puck is regretting very thoroughly right now."

"I'll bet," Xanatos said dryly. "Why does my two-and-a-half-year-old son know how to teleport?" 

"Because it seemed like a good idea at the time." Owen sat back against the headboard. "Although I confess, this was not an outcome I foresaw." 

"Mm." Xanatos kind of thought this _was_ an outcome he should've foreseen, but that was a conversation for daylight, not—he checked the clock—holy shit, three in the morning? "Alex, what are you doing in here? It's the middle of the night." 

Alex's lower lip wobbled. "Where's Mommy?" 

"She's out of town, remember?" Xanatos rubbed Alex's back. "She went to California. She'll be back in two days." _Two days_ was probably not a length of time that would make sense to a toddler, but he was too tired to try and simplify the explanation. "Did you go into our bedroom first?" 

Alex crawled off him and into the space between him and Owen. "Yeah." 

"Did you have a bad dream?" Xanatos asked. 

"Yeah." 

Well, that wasn't good. "Do you remember what it was?" 

"Shadows," Alex said, although he didn't sound the least bit distressed about it. "Owen, can I sleep with you and Daddy peez?" 

Owen opened his mouth as if to answer, and then his eyes flicked from Alex to Xanatos and he hesitated. "Well, if it's all right with your father…" 

Xanatos sighed and mentally gave thanks for whatever instinct had had him putting a pair of pants back on before they'd gone to sleep. "It's fine with me." 

Owen smiled, first at him, then at Alex. "Then yes, you can stay. But you have to go to sleep." 

Alex wiggled his way under the covers. "I sleep!" 

Xanatos laid back down on his side and propped his head up on his hand, so he could see Owen. "You were about to say yes, weren't you?" 

Owen settled back in as well, very carefully not looking at Xanatos as he did. "He had a nightmare."

Xanatos grinned. "He's got you wrapped around his little finger."

Owen scoffed. "He does not. This hardly counts." 

Xanatos could honestly say that, of the three of them, he had _not_ expected Owen to be the one who caved to Alex the quickest. He was a great tutor, yes, but Owen would probably let him eat nothing but cookies for every meal if Alex asked nicely enough. 

Alex kept turning over and over in his spot, and then landed his heel right in Xanatos's thigh. Twice. 

Nobody told you about this part of having kids. "Alex. Settle down and go to sleep, or you'll have to go back to your bedroom." 

"Noooo." Alex latched onto Owen. "Don't want to go to my bedroom."

"You only have to if you keep moving around," Owen said. "If you're still, you can stay here." 

Alex stopped moving immediately and, within a few minutes, was passed out with his face mashed into Owen's side. 

Xanatos chuckled and buried his face in his pillow. "My kid took my spot." 

"We could move him," Owen said, with a look on his face that very clearly said he didn't want to. 

"No, it's fine." Xanatos rested his hand on Owen's arm, rubbing his thumb in circles there. "I'm glad." 

Glad to be reminded, once again, how much Alex adored Owen and how much Owen loved him in return. Xanatos had never once doubted that would be the case, but it was one thing to know something and another thing entirely to see it every single day. Nothing could have prepared him for how that would feel, to actually watch his family come together in a way he could never have foreseen just a few years ago. It filled his chest to bursting, made it difficult for him to breathe with it sometimes. 

He stayed awake longer than he should've, watching Owen and Alex sleep, just to hold on to that feeling a while longer.


	6. Chapter 6

_November 2009  
_  
The thing about Owen was that it was literally impossible to slip something past him. Everything Alex had learned about loopholes and using your words to hide your intentions, he'd learned from Owen, and Owen had been doing that stuff for actual centuries. Probably actual millennia. Alex could sometimes, if he was very clever about how he did it, slip something past Mom or Dad if they weren't totally paying attention to what he was saying, but Owen? No. Owen _knew_ what to listen for.

Which presented a problem right now, because Alex needed to learn how to fight not just physically, but with his magic as well. And Owen was the only person who could teach him how to do that. 

But if Owen found out why Alex wanted to learn that, well. He could kiss any chance of fighting Oberon goodbye, because Owen would stop him in a heartbeat. And Owen actually _could_ stop him; Alex had a feeling that the "protection" part of the punishment would kick in immediately if he found out Alex was planning on fighting Oberon himself. 

It left Alex at a total loss of what to do, so he kind of...just...put it off. 

It wasn't like he didn't haveanything else to do! Two days after she got back from Australia, Mom kept her promise by dragging Alex out of bed at 5:30 in the morning to start what she called "endurance training" and what Alex called an attempt to break his determination by going against the rules of the Geneva Convention. He couldn't see how running three miles every morning was going to help him learn how to fight, but Mom gave him a sharp look and said he'd asked for her help, and he was going to get it the way she decided to give it to him.

Alex didn't one hundred percent believe she wasn't messing with him, but he shut up and went running. Even on the weekends, when he usually got to sleep in. The plus side was that he was up early enough to at least _see_ Lex and the rest of the clan before they went to sleep at sunrise. 

On top of that, school was in full swing, so Alex was back to having homework. Most days he could do it pretty quickly, but it still took up a lot of his time after school. And then on top of _that_ , he was having to find time to work with Dad on the new robot suit, which was usually relegated to the weekends because Alex didn't have a lot of time before or after school, between homework and training with Mom, and Dad didn't have a lot of time given that he was running several international companies. 

But even if he was making headway on his goal with other methods, fighting with magic was _kind of_ key to being able to defeat Oberon. And Alex had no idea how to get Owen to help him there. 

In the end, he really shouldn't have been surprised that it was Dad who helped him out. 

They were in the workshop on a Saturday afternoon, after Alex had finished his training with Mom for the day (running three miles a day had gotten easier over the past few weeks, and Mom had decided that meant it was time to jump to _four_ in addition to actual sparring). After talking about it, he and Dad had decided that of the armor pieces Alex would need, gauntlets would be the easiest and most effective place to start.

They'd just strapped Alex into the gauntlets when Owen walked in with a stack of folders. "Sir, I know it's the weekend, but—" He stopped. "What are you doing?" 

Alex raised his hand and made a fist. "I'm getting battle armor!" 

Owen did not look impressed. "Mr. Xanatos." 

Dad didn't look up from the computer where he'd hooked the gauntlets in. "Work can wait until Monday morning, Owen, unless it's an emergency." 

From the way Owen's mouth went flatter, Alex guessed he wasn't happy about that. "I was referring to the battle armor you're giving to Alexander. _Sir_."

Dad waved the concern away. "We're just doing the gauntlets right now, and I haven't given him any weapons." 

"Yet?" Alex said hopefully. 

Dad looked up long enough to narrow his eyes. " _Ever_."

"How about after I'm eighteen?" Alex tried. 

"We'll talk then." Dad turned back to the computer and tapped a few keys. "Alex, try activating the barrier." 

Alex closed his fist, and the green barrier flickered to existence around him. Dad picked up a pen from the desk and tossed it, and it bounced harmlessly off the shield. 

Dad turned to Owen with a triumphant grin on his face. "See? It's just a barrier." 

Owen continued to give Dad the world's most judgmental look.

Alex opened and closed his fist, activating and deactivating the barrier. They probably needed to find a different way to bring it up, but this was pretty cool for now. Not to mention...

He brought the barrier back to life and studied it. _Energy is energy_. How strong _could_ he make it?

"Hey, Dad," Alex said. "Throw the pen again."

Dad picked it up off the floor and tossed it without looking, still deep in a conversation with Owen that Alex couldn't quite hear. 

Alex waited until the pen was about to hit the barrier, and then shoved it full of as much magic as he could. 

The pen _shot_ across the room, right over Dad's and Owen's heads, and embedded itself in the stone wall on the opposite side of the workshop. 

Dad and Owen jumped about a foot each. 

Alex gaped. "Holy _shit!_ "

Dad cursed a lot more colorfully. "What the hell was that?" 

Owen went straight to the computer. "The energy in your shield seems to have quadrupled, sir." 

Dad followed him, frowning. "What? That's impossible." 

Owen looked up from the screen directly at Alex. " _Alexander_." 

Alex didn't even try for an innocent expression; he knew Owen had already guessed what he'd done. "You always tell me that energy is energy, no matter where it comes from. I was testing that!" 

"Energy is—" Dad looked up from the computer and back to Alex. "Wait, Alex, you did that with _magic?_ "

"Yeah." Alex unclenched his fist. "I wanted to see if I could give the barrier a boost." 

Dad turned to the wall, where the pen was still sticking out of solid stone. "I'd say you did." 

"That was dangerous," Owen said. "Either one of us could've been seriously injured, Alexander. Before you run experiments, you need to tell people what you're doing. Or at least warn them so they can get out of the way." 

Alex was pretty sure neither of them would've paid attention to him, but now was really not the time to point that out. He hung his head. "Sorry, Owen. I won't do it again." 

"Thankfully, no one was injured. But Owen's right, Alex. If you do that again, I can't have you in the workshop," Dad said. "Period." 

"I already said I wouldn't!" Alex protested, and at the identical admonishing looks he got, amended, "Sorry. I really won't." 

"Good." Dad turned back to the computer and studied the screen. "That being said, it _would_ be an interesting experiment to see how much you could increase the power of something just with your magic." 

Owen sighed. " _Mr. Xanatos_." 

"I said it would be an interesting experiment," Dad said. "I didn't say we were going to do it." 

"Why not?" Alex asked. "There has to be a way to do it safely, right? It'd be neat, and it would mean that the armor wouldn't use as much energy, right?" 

Dad rubbed his beard. "That's true..."

"Yes, but then it would drain _you_ to power it," Owen pointed out. "You're very strong, Alexander, but you have limits to your power." 

Oh. Yeah. Alex made a face. It would _suck_ if he ran out of energy in the middle of fighting Oberon, because that jerk definitely had more endurance than he did. 

Dad was still studying the computer thoughtfully. "You know...we may be able to find a balance. If Alex can strengthen the suit's abilities with his magic, could we use the suit to strengthen him? It wouldn't work forever, but it might be enough to extend the amount of time he could use it." 

Owen turned to study the screen as well. "It's a possibility, sir, but..." 

He trailed off and looked at Dad, who just looked back at him. Neither of them said anything. 

Alex was tired of being left out of the loop while his parents were having conversations with _eyebrows_. "But what?" 

Dad put a hand on Owen's shoulder. "Alex, Owen and I need to talk. Can you give us a few minutes?" 

Alex hopped off the stool. "Okay, okay." 

Dad fixed him with a stern look. "Leave the gauntlets." 

Alex groaned and made a show of taking the gauntlets off, leaving them by the computer. He was pretty sure he could head out into the hallway, turn invisible, and—

"And no eavesdropping," Owen and Dad said in unison.

Alex kicked the wall. " _Damn it!_ "

It was truly _crap_ that his parents knew him so well. 

He was tempted to stay in the hallway anyway, but at this point, that was a one-way ticket to losing any chance of getting a suit _and_ any chance of Owen helping him learn how to fight with magic. And he needed both of those if he wanted any hope of going up against Oberon. 

He headed out to the courtyard instead and leaned on one of the parapets, gazing out over the city bathed in the glow of the late afternoon sun. It had only been about a month since he'd actively started finding out how to fight, but his entire body buzzed with the need to do _more_ and do it faster. Mom told him every day they sparred that he wasn't going to pick this up overnight, that it was going to take time for him to learn and master the skills, but knowing that didn't make it any easier to deal with how slow things were going. 

He really wished he'd known about this sooner. If he'd started training when he was ten...

Footsteps sounded on the stone behind him, and Alex reached out with a tree root to grab whoever it was. 

"Quick thinking, Alexander," Owen said. 

Alex let the root fall away and looked over his shoulder. "You and Dad didn't talk for very long." 

"It was a conversation we have already had." Owen walked over to him. "The question was whether it was time to tell you about it." 

Alex tensed. "Tell me about what?"

Owen clasped his hands behind his back, standing stiff and staring out across the city. "We have reason to believe Oberon will come for you again." 

_No!_ It was too soon; it was _way_ too soon. Alex spun away from the parapet. "What?! When? How do you—" 

Owen held up a hand. "Not immediately. But..." He trailed off. "You know that Oberon was unhappy to lose the two of us, and our staying in the mortal world was contingent upon you being trained. Sooner or later, Oberon is going to want to know the results of that training for himself." 

Oh, crap. Alex hadn't even considered that, but it made sense. "But...Grandma's been here. She'd tell him how it's going." 

Owen shrugged. "She likely has. But regardless, Oberon _will_ eventually want to see your progress with his own eyes." 

Mom's warning echoed in his head. _Do_ not _start a fight until you're positive you can win. You have no idea what you'll lose if you lose._

It was one thing to seek this out for himself, knowing that he would be picking a time and a place. It was another thing entirely to realize Oberon might come well before Alex was ready to face him. And if Alex couldn't beat him...

He swallowed a few times; his throat was suddenly dry. "How long do you think we have?" 

"I do not know." Owen stepped up to the parapets and rested his hands on the stone. "To be honest, your father and I have been planning for this for some time. Upgrading the defenses around the castle, the Iron Clan—" 

"But that wasn't enough before!" Alex shouted.

Owen's mouth turned down. "No. It wasn't." He took a deep breath. "Which is why it's time we start training _you_ how to fight." 

Alex opened his mouth and closed it again. Well...that was one way to get what he wanted. "Me?" 

Owen made a fist on the stone. "I admit, I was against it. But as your mother and father have both pointed out, you are getting old enough to take care of yourself and we aren't able to be around you at all times. You _do_ need to know how to defend yourself, especially if Oberon comes for you when we're not around." 

A new thought occurred to him, and Alex froze. "Owen...what is Oberon going to do to _you?_ "

Owen shook his head. "I will be fine."

Alex grabbed his arm. "That didn't answer my question! What's—" 

" _Alexander_." Owen's voice was stern, but he didn't pull away. "It is unlikely he will do anything to me if he is coming here for you. I will be fine. It is _you_ we need to worry about."

Alex didn't believe him, but he also didn't think Owen was _deliberately_ lying to him. And he was going to learn how to fight, which had been his goal anyway. Just not for the same reason Owen wanted. 

He dropped his hands and took a deep breath. "Okay. So when do we start?" 

Owen closed his eyes briefly, and then took off his glasses and tucked them in his pocket. Alex stepped away, and the green tendrils of magic wafted upward, sparkling around him. Owen shrank about a foot, his hair turned white and grew longer, and his ears jumped out from his head in sharp points. 

A second later, Puck opened his eyes and grinned. "How about right now?"


	7. Invisibility Tricks

_August 1999_

Elisa stepped off the elevators and into the castle. She was early; Goliath and the others wouldn't be up for another half-hour. Maybe she could grab a drink with Fox and Xanatos. It had been a _hell_ of a day. 

Something materialized out of thin air right in front of her, and Elisa jumped back with a yelp. 

Alex giggled, floating in a slow circle in midair. "I scared you, Aunt 'Lisa!" 

And her heart rate wasn't going to let her forget it. Elisa plastered on her biggest child-appropriate smile. "You sure did! Are you learning new magic right now?"

Alex grabbed his feet and bobbed. "Yeah! I'm being invisible!" 

Elisa blinked. "You're learning to be invisible?" 

"Yeah." 

Elisa scanned the atrium. If Alex was training, that meant Puck was around here somewhere, although given today's lesson, she wasn't surprised she couldn't see him. "Mm-hmm. And did Puck think that all the way through before he started teaching you how to be invisible?" 

"Disparaging my methods of instruction, Detective Maza?" 

Elisa spun at the voice; sure enough, Puck was floating behind her now, arms crossed over his chest and giving her what was probablysupposed to be a very stern look, although it was somewhat marred by the fact that he also looked faintly amused. 

She crossed her arms in return. "Just pointing out that you probably _don't_ want a three-year-old with invisibility powers running around the castle." 

"Most of Oberon's Children know invisibility by now." Puck floated up and over her head to pluck Alex out of the air. "Can't have Alexander lagging behind." 

Yeah, Elisa remembered the harried stories Xanatos had shared about Alex learning to teleport. "So you're okay with him being invisible when you're having _intimate times_ with his dad?" 

"That's not—" Puck cut himself off and gave her a flat look, and then held Alex in front of him. "Okay, Alexander. Invisibility ground rules. No popping into any of your parents' bedrooms when you're invisible, understand? Okay? _Tell me you understand._ " 

"O-kay," Alex sing-songed, and he scrunched up his face and immediately turned invisible again.

Elisa resigned herself to hearing the invisibility horror stories from Xanatos in a few weeks. "Are you following any sort of lesson plan, or are you just doing what seems like a good idea at the time?" 

Puck scowled at her. "Hey, cut me some slack. Do you have any idea how long it's been since I was learning magic?" 

"Somewhere in the neighborhood of a thousand years?" Elisa asked dryly. 

The scowl only got deeper, and then Puck turned an extremely crafty grin toward the invisible toddler he was still holding. "So, Alexander. Would you like to learn how to play some tricks?" 

Alex giggled. "Yeah! Wanna do tricks!" 

And _that_ was Elisa's cue to go somewhere else. "Well, I'll leave you to it. Speaking of his parents, have you seen them?" 

"Nope!" And with that, Puck vanished, too. 

Elisa sighed and rubbed a hand over her face. She was never sure who annoyed her more, Owen or Puck. Both in different ways, she supposed. She would never understand how he was Alex's favorite person on the planet. "I've had a long day. I'm going to get a drink. And you two had better not play any tricks on me." 

"No promises, Detective!" Puck's voice sang out from somewhere over to the right.

Alex laughed again. "No pomises!" 

Wow, an invisible child's laugh was actually terrifying, even when it was still light outside. Elisa shook her head and headed for the kitchen. She _really_ needed a drink now.


	8. Chapter 8

_August 2012_

Alex collapsed on the dojo floor, sweaty and exhausted and really wishing he could go sit in the shower for an hour instead of getting ready for school. 

Mom sat on the floor beside him, laughing breathlessly. "You're getting better. You almost had me there." 

He made a face at the ceiling. "Almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades." 

"Hey, you've only been doing this for three years," Mom said. "I've been doing it a lot longer." 

Alex groaned and sat up, rubbing his sore arms. "Yeah, but I need to be good enough to _beat_ you. I'm not getting good enough fast enough." 

"Hey." Mom kicked a leg out at him. "That's not true. You've gotten _great_ in a very short amount of time. You could probably give your dad and Owen a run for their money. You've got to remember, kiddo, I did this for my _actual job_ for years before you were born, and I never stopped training." 

Alex dragged his hands through his hair. Okay, yeah, Mom was right, but it had been _three years_ since he'd started training with her. He'd thought he'd have made more progress by now. 

Mom stood up and held out her hand. "Alex. Seriously. Trust me as your teacher to know your progress. You're doing fantastic." 

Alex took her hand and let her help him to his feet. "Thanks, Mom." 

It wasn't that he didn't believe her. He did, and he could tell that he was better than he used to be. Hell, they'd long upped their morning endurance runs to six miles and Alex could easily keep pace with Mom there, too. He and Dad had come pretty close to perfecting Alex's battle armor, and he'd learned _so much_ more magic that it seemed like Puck was trying to cram a hundred years of training into every month. 

But it didn't feel like enough. It didn't feel like enough to challenge and defeat Oberon and it didn't feel like enough to protect his family if Oberon came for him before Alex was ready. And Alex had no way of knowing when the latter would happen, but his parents had been planning for it since he was a _baby_. 

So far, they hadn't heard anything from Avalon, aside from a visit from Anastasia a couple of years ago and Alex wasn't sure how much that counted. But he really, really didn't want to be caught unaware by anybody, and especially not by Oberon. 

Mom set a hand on his shoulder, her expression solemn. "It's going to be okay, Alex. You know that, right?" 

She'd never said outright that she knew what he was doing, but she said stuff like that often enough that Alex was positive she'd guessed. "I know," he lied. "I should probably go get ready for school, huh?" 

Mom ruffled his hair. "Junior year. My baby's growing up so fast." 

Alex ducked out from under her hand. " _Mo-om_." 

She sighed wistfully. "You're going to be taller than me soon." 

Alex made a face. He'd grown a lot over the past few years—he was taller than Puck now (though not by much), and that had been a hell of a surprise to both of them when Owen had transformed the last time—but he was still pretty solidly of average height compared to the rest of his class. Which was kind of crap, because Dad and Mom were _both_ tall. When the hell was Alex going to hit the rest of his growth spurt? 

He hugged Mom tight, deliberately smearing sweat over her and making her groan, and then left the dojo to get ready for the day.

***

School wasn't really Alex's favorite place to be. He liked to learn things, sure, and he was good at it, but school had never been much of a challenge for him and it was always hit or miss on if he had a good teacher that year. His English teachers tended to like him because he voluntarily read Shakespeare, but his history teachers got angry when he argued with the books when they conflicted with what Owen or the gargoyles had told him. 

Not to mention, Alex wasn't exactly what you'd call popular. The few friends Alex had were ones he'd had since elementary school, when nobody really cared about who your parents were or how many times they'd been in prison. And after years of dealing with bullies in first overt and then more subtle ways, Alex had earned a reputation. On the down side, it made it hard to make new friends. On the plus side, _nobody_ wanted to piss him off.

So it was a shock when some guy he'd never seen before shouted after him in the hallway between classes. "Hey! Hey, man, wait up!" 

Alex looked around; surely the guy was yelling at someone else. But no, he was fighting through the crowd and heading right to Alex. 

Something about the guy made the hair on the back of Alex's neck stand up. He briefly debated just teleporting to his next class in order to avoid him, but he tried not to use obvious magic at school. Teleportation was _pretty obvious_. So was invisibility, which was his other option. Too bad the classroom doors were on the other side of the hall; Alex could use one for cover. 

Walking quickly to avoid the confrontation it was, then. 

The guy caught up with him after only a few steps. "Hey, man, you're Alexander Xanatos, right?" 

Alex narrowed his eyes. The guy looked straight out of the '50s, right down to the Danny Zuko hair and the leather jacket. "Who's asking?" 

"Haha, chill out." The guy held up his hands in surrender. "I'm friendly, I promise. I'm Peter Maza. I'm new here this year. I moved here to live with my aunt. I think you know her. Elisa Maza? She's a detective with the NYPD." 

Alarm bells started going off in Alex's head, because _none_ of that was true. "Oh yeah?" He tried to keep his voice casual. "That's cool. You like staying with her and Morgan?" 

Not!Peter grinned. "Ha, yeah. Uncle Morgan's a bit of a hardass sometimes, but what can you do?" 

God, this guy was a shitty liar. "For one thing, asshole, you can come up with a better cover story." 

The grin on not!Peter's face slipped. "What?" 

"Peter Maza is Elisa's _dad_ , not her nephew, and believe me, her real husband? More of a hardass than you could _ever_ believe." Alex adjusted his grip on his backpack and glared. "Now either tell me who you really are, or get the hell out of here before I make you regret lying to me."

"Whoa, man." Not!Peter backed off, hands up again. "You _really_ need to learn how to chill." 

"Not when you're lying to me," Alex snapped. "I'm not asking again. Who are you?" 

" _Head's up!_ " 

Alex turned just in time to see a white blur shoot past his face, hardly an inch from his nose, and a baseball smacked into the wall beside him and then shot back into the crowd. 

"Whoa." Not!Peter whistled. "Talk about luck. That thing would've had you." 

"Yeah..." Alex stared across the hall, trying to figure out where in the hell the baseball had come from. "Lucky."

He couldn't say what about the word made it click. He turned back to not!Peter, took in how out of place he looked, and suddenly Alex knew exactly why he'd been on high alert throughout their entire conversation. _Shit._ "You're one of Oberon's Children." 

The guy's eyes widened just a fraction before he put on a puzzled face. "I'm one of what? What are you talking about?" 

"Cut the shit." Alex ran through what he knew of Oberon's Children, both from Owen and from the ones Aunt Elisa and Goliath had encountered, and took a stab at guessing. "You're Coyote, aren't you?"

The puzzled look faded into a smirk, and Coyote tapped the side of his face. "Heh. What gave it away?" 

Alex tensed. "Lucky guess."

"Mm-hmm." Coyote rocked back on his heels. "Titania said you were smart. Didn't believe it, since you've been in the mortal world so long, but I guess Puck didn't do a bad job of teaching you." 

The way he said Puck's name had Alex's hackles rising. "Say some shit about him one more time and you'll find out just how 'bad' of a job he did." 

That didn't look like it deterred him. If anything, Coyote's smirk got wider. "Kind of the point, Alexander." 

Fuck fuck _fuck_. Alex clenched his fists. "Oberon sent you to test me." 

Coyote gave him finger guns and winked. "Bingo."

Alex considered the crowded hallway, packed with people who had no idea what was going on. If Coyote insisted on a test _now..._ "No way, asshole. There are too many people here and I'm not going to let you hurt any of them." 

Coyote waved it off. "Relax. We're not going to hurt any of the humans. This is just an introduction." He grinned, and this one looked a lot more like Puck's when he was about to cause a _lot_ of chaos. "Consider it a friendly head's up." 

Alex scowled. "Gee, thanks."

"See you around, Alexander." Coyote slipped back into the stream of people milling the hallway. "I look forward to seeing what you can do. And tell your dad I said hi." 

With that, Coyote stepped back into the crowd milling the hallways, and Alex lost sight of him.

Well, shit. 

Looked like he would be facing Oberon a lot sooner than he'd hoped.

***

Alex kept his eyes peeled the rest of the day, but he didn't see Coyote again. Of course, that didn't mean he could relax. Coyote had said they wouldn't hurt any of the humans, but that didn't mean he wouldn't start some shit at school. Alex twitched at every noise, ready to jump into action if he needed to, but that only resulted in _really_ irritating his teachers. 

It was almost a relief when school was over and he could head home. Alex didn't usually teleport that far, but today, he made an exception. No sense in giving anybody a chance to ambush him on the way. 

As soon as he was safely in the atrium, Alex hauled out his phone to check the calendar. Dad and Owen were in meetings, because of course they were, and Mom wasn't going to be back until dinner. 

Well, dinner it was, then. Alex would just tell them all then. At least he could try and find a way to break it to them gently over the next couple of hours.

***

Alex managed to wait until they were all in the kitchen before he blurted out, "I saw Coyote at school today." 

Mom looked confused and Dad didn't turn away from the stove, but Owen jerked his head up and dropped his phone. 

Dad pulled the taco shells out of the oven and set them on the counter. "What kind of—" He took one look at Owen and cut himself off. "Oh. _That_ Coyote." 

Realization dawned on Mom's face, and she cursed under her breath. 

Alex looked at Dad. "He said to tell you hi, by the way."

Dad's mouth flattened. "He remembers me? I'm flattered." 

"What's Coyote doing at your school?" Mom asked.

"Introducing himself," Alex said. "Apparently I've got a _test_ coming up." 

Mom, Dad, and Owen all shared a look, something they'd done for most of Alex's life and it _always_ boggled his mind. 

"What are the chances of this test _just_ involving Coyote?" Dad asked Owen. 

Owen bent over and picked up his phone. "Low. Oberon may want to see what Alexander can do against one of the other Children, but if he's strong enough to beat Coyote, then chances are good he won't be the only one."

"Am I strong enough to beat Coyote?" Alex asked. 

"I believe so," Owen said. 

Alex swallowed hard. "So there'll be others. And then probably Oberon himself." 

Owen met his eyes. "Yes." 

Mom made a fist on the table. "Good. I've got a much bigger gun this time." 

"But after he tests me, he'll just leave, right?" Alex asked. 

Owen shook his head. "I'm afraid I don't know." 

"You don't _know?_ " Dad repeated. 

"This is an unusual situation," Owen said. "There's never been a Child like Alexander. Oberon may be satisfied to leave you here if he's deemed your training is going well enough, or he may try to take you back to Avalon regardless." 

Mom slammed her hands on the table. "Like hell he's taking Alex." 

Owen smiled thinly. "That is why I said _try_." 

Okay, no, this was going the _wrong_ way. If Oberon was after him, then Alex would face him alone. He wouldn't let anybody else get caught in the crossfire, not even his parents. Alex thought fast. "If he's testing me, can I set parameters for the test?" 

"Perhaps," Owen said slowly, "but you have to understand, Alexander, it's unlikely Oberon will abide by them." 

"What?! That's bullshit!" Alex shouted. 

"I agree." Dad went back to loading the taco shells on a plate. "Elisa said when Goliath and Angela faced him on Avalon, he _did_ play by the rules Titania set. Granted, all that was out the window when he came here, but he did." 

"Because they were mortal, and he knew he was strong enough to beat them no matter what handicaps she placed on him," Owen said. "And he did it mostly to please Titania so she would marry him again. Without that kind of leverage, he has no incentive to abide by any rules you set out." 

Mom scoffed. "He won't even abide by his _own_ rules." 

Owen gave her a wry smile. "One of the 'perks' of being in charge."

Great. So, Alex would have to find a way to give Oberon something he wanted to get him to abide by any rules, and that was only _if_ Oberon was feeling charitable. He could probably go through Titania in some way, but he didn't trust her as far as he could throw her, and he _really_ didn't want to let anyone else in on his plan. Besides, Titania would probably want something in exchange for her assistance, and Alex wasn't stupid enough to make deals with her and Oberon at the same time. Not that there was anything Alex had that Oberon would want, either.

Except...

Wait.

Oberon wanted _him._

Dad sat down at the table next to Mom. "It may be a good idea for Alex to stay home for the next few days, just—" 

"No," Alex cut in. 

Mom raised her eyebrows at him. "No? Alex—"

"Look, I'm not letting them screw up my life just because they decided _now_ is when I need to be tested," Alex said. "I promise I'll go straight to school and come straight home. But I'm not going to hide from them."

"There's a difference between hiding and prudence," Owen said, taking his own seat at the table. "But there _is_ a good chance that staying here will only invite Oberon to attack when he gets tired of waiting." 

Alex nodded and started loading taco shells onto his plate. "I'm going to see if I can find out what they want, exactly. And find a way to have the test on my _own_ terms. There's no reason Oberon should get to set when and where it happens." 

Owen and Dad shared a look across the table. "You will need to be extraordinarily careful," Owen said. "But any advantage you can get..." 

Dad nodded decisively. "You should take it." 

Mom shook her head. "I don't like this. I _agree_ ," she amended, "but I don't like it." 

Dad squeezed her hand. "None of us do. But it is what it is. Pass the tomatoes?" 

Mom passed the tomatoes, Dad passed the tortillas, and dinner fell back into normal conversation, with only a little bit of the tension from earlier sitting underneath it. _  
_  
Alex filled his tacos and only half-listened to his parents, his mind preoccupied. Right now, what he knew was that Oberon wanted him. Specifically, Oberon wanted to test him. It wasn't much to go on, but it might be enough to leverage. Between all three of his parents, Alex had learned a _lot_ about that.

At least he had something to work with.

***

"Who are those creepy girls staring at you?" Marcus asked over lunch the next day. 

Alex snapped his head up from _Hamlet_ —that was the Shakespeare play they were studying this year and he was halfway through mentally composing an _epic_ rant about it—and looked behind him to see who Marcus was talking about. 

There were three identical girls, wearing exactly the same clothes, sitting at a table on the other side of the courtyard and staring in their direction. The only difference between the girls was their hair: one had blond hair, one black hair, and the last one white hair. 

The Weird Sisters. Crap. He'd thought he'd just be dealing with Coyote. 

"Alex?" Marcus prodded him.

"No idea," Alex said quickly. "I've never seen them before. They must be new this year." 

Marcus shrugged and started eating his lunch. "Wonder if they've heard about your reputation. They look like they might've been on top at their old school." 

_You have no idea_ , Alex thought. "If they have and they want to test me, they'll figure out how true it is soon enough." 

Marcus held out his fist, and Alex bumped it. 

He'd known Marcus since preschool, when Tony, the biggest boy in the four-year-old class, had pushed Marcus off the swing set hard enough that he skinned his knee and started crying. Alex's response had been to tackle Tony off the swing and break his nose, back before he'd learned to be more subtle with his payback. Alex hadn't gotten in trouble because the principal didn't really believe Alex had taken down a bully twice his size and even at four years old, Alex wasn't stupid enough to try and correct him on that score. 

The next day, Marcus had shared his chocolate-vanilla pudding cup with Alex as a thank you and they'd been best friends ever since. 

He glanced back over at the Weird Sisters, only to see they were gone.

Well. That was...concerning. 

He turned back to Marcus. "Hey, did you—" 

Marcus was frozen in his seat, sandwich halfway to his mouth, like someone had pressed a pause button. 

Alex shot to his feet and looked around the courtyard. _Everyone_ was frozen in the middle of whatever they'd been doing. Hell, a group of pigeons were stuck mid-flight. 

_Shit_. 

"Greetings, grandson of Titania." 

Alex whirled around. The Weird Sisters stood behind him, no longer teenagers but women in identical white robes, with identical creepy smiles on their faces. 

"He does not feel like one of us," the blond one said. 

"He is mostly human," the dark-haired one said. "That is why." 

The white-haired one crossed her arms. "One has to wonder why Lord Oberon bothers." 

Alex clenched his fists. "Well, maybe he shouldn't."

The blonde spread her hands. "Ah, but you are one of Oberon's Children. He must know how your training progresses." 

Alex shoved his books in his backpack. "He doesn't need to know jack shit. Titania's seen my progress." 

Not much of it, but that was beside the point. Alex had deliberately kept from showing off the true extent of his powers whenever she was around. 

"Lord Oberon wants to see your progress for _himself_ ," the dark-haired one said. 

Exactly what Owen had said. Alex slung his backpack over his shoulder and stood up straight. "No." 

The Weird Sisters blinked at him. "No?" three voices said in unison. 

"You heard me. No." Alex glared at them. "Oberon wants to test me. I don't want to be tested. So, _no_." 

That earned him three identical glowers. "No one says no to Lord Oberon," the white-haired one said. 

Alex shrugged. "Then I guess he gets to get used to disappointment." He held up his hand and rubbed his fingers together. "I'm not agreeing unless there's something in it for me." 

The Weird Sisters exchanged a look, and then turned back to him. "We are listening," the dark-haired one said. 

_Gotcha_. Alex took a deep breath. "I'll test my abilities against any one of Oberon's Children, but only on one condition." 

"What is your condition?" the white-haired one asked. 

Alex held up one finger. "Oberon grants me one request. _Any_ request."

The Weird Sisters regarded him steadily. "You make a bold demand," the blond one said. 

Alex smiled thinly. "Those are my terms. Take it or leave it." 

Another shared look between them, and then the dark-haired one said, "Very well. We will take your terms to Lord Oberon." 

"And one of us will return with his answer," said the white-haired one. 

With that, they all three disappeared in a swirl of fire and smoke. 

Alex sank onto the bench and swiped his hand over his face. Bargaining with the Children of Oberon was dangerous, especially if you weren't careful about how you used your words. They were all really good at finding loopholes, at sticking to the letter of your request rather than the spirit. But he was pretty sure he'd phrased that in such a way that Oberon couldn't find a way out of it. 

Now he just had to wait and see if Oberon would agree.


	9. The Right to an Attorney

_February 2001_

The intercom on Owen's phone beeped twice, and he pressed the button without looking over from the computer. "Yes?" 

"Owen." Fox's voice was strangled. "Get David. Come here." 

"What are you—" Owen started, but Fox had already hung up. 

Well. That was odd. 

Owen left his office and went to Xanatos's to deliver the strange and extraordinarily vague message. "Mr. Xanatos. Fox has requested our presence." 

Xanatos pushed away from his desk. "Did she say why?" 

"No." Owen clasped his hands behind him. "She was noticeably unclear on that count." 

Xanatos arched an eyebrow. "I feel like that should worry us." 

"She sounded amused, sir." 

"I feel like that should worry us _more_." 

Owen privately agreed. 

They found Fox at the desk in her office, the phone off the hook while she had her face buried in her hands and her shoulders shaking. From this angle, Owen couldn't tell whether she was laughing or crying. 

From the phone, a tinny voice said, "Mrs. Xanatos? Mrs. Xanatos, are you still there?" 

Xanatos picked up the phone. "This is David Xanatos. What's going on?" 

With the phone against Xanatos's ear, Owen couldn't hear the answer. Xanatos was listening intently, and then he very slowly covered his face with his free hand and handed the phone to Owen without a word. 

Owen took it and cleared his throat. "This is Owen Burnett, Mr. Xanatos's personal assistant. How can I help you?"

"Oh. Uh. What happened to Mr. Xanatos?" the very confused voice on the other end asked. 

"He's indisposed at the moment," Owen answered smoothly. "To whom am I speaking?" 

"This is Debra Hadley. I'm—" 

"Yes, the assistant principal at Alexander's school," Owen finished for her. "Is something wrong?" Something new and unsettling occurred to him. "Is Alexander all right?" 

"He's fine, it's—" 

"I'M INVOKIN' MY WIGHT TO AN NOTTORNY!" came Alexander's voice in the background. 

Mrs. Hadley sighed deeply. "Alexander got into an altercation with another boy on the playground and he's said nothing but 'I'm invoking my right to an attorney' since he got to the principal's office."

Owen's lips twitched, and he clamped them together. "I understand, Mrs. Hadley. We'll be right there."

***

Owen cleared the calendar for the rest of the day, and then drove Fox and Xanatos to Alexander's preschool. He had no idea what kind of altercation Alexander would have gotten into, but Owen would bet anything Alexander hadn't started it. Only finished it. 

They went into the main office together, where a harried-looking receptionist let them into the assistant principal's office. Alexander and another boy sat in two child-sized chairs in front of the desk, the other boy certainly looking worse for wear and Alexander looking rumpled and mutinous but otherwise unharmed. A man and a woman stood beside the other boy, each wearing a furious glower, which led Owen to believe they were the boy's parents. The woman behind the desk was rubbing at her temple and looking very much like she wanted to be anywhere else.

Owen checked the nameplate on her desk. "Mrs. Hadley, I presume?" 

Mrs. Hadley blinked at him. "Are you...the attorney?" 

Before Owen could say a word, Alexander hopped off his seat and gave her a withering look Owen could only guess he'd learned from his father. " _No._ That's _Owen_." 

He walked over and held up his arms, and Owen obligingly picked him up. 

Xanatos took a step forward, his charming smile in place and his hand extended. "Mrs. Hadley. I don't believe we've met. David Xanatos, Alex's father." He shook Mrs. Hadley's hand, and then touched Fox's shoulder. "This is Fox, my wife," he put his other hand on Owen's shoulder, "and Owen Burnett, my partner." 

Mrs. Hadley, who had stood to shake Xanatos's hand, looked between the three of them with growing confusion. "Er, business or...?" 

"Both," Xanatos said without missing a beat. "So, I understand there was an altercation?" 

The other man advanced on them. "I'll say there was an altercation! Your little gremlin threw Tony halfway across the playground!" 

A pity this situation did not count for protecting Alexander. Owen fixed the man with the iciest glare he could muster in lieu of being able to do what he _really_ wanted to. 

Xanatos glanced between Alexander and Tony, who was nearly a full head taller and clearly several pounds heavier. "I find that...difficult to believe." 

The man made an outraged noise, very much like a bull intending to charge. 

While Owen _dearly_ wanted to see what would happen if the man tried to attack Xanatos or, fates forbid, Fox, that would certainly not help anything at the moment. He stepped between Xanatos and the other man and turned to the assistant principal. "Mrs. Hadley. Perhaps you can enlighten us as to what happened?" 

She sank back behind her desk and gestured to the other open adult-sized chairs. "Please, have a seat."

Xanatos crossed his arms. "Oh, I think we'll stand." 

Mrs. Hadley sighed. "Whatever you want." She indicated the other couple. "This is Mr. and Mrs. Chadwick, Tony's parents. Our recess teacher, Mr. Jones, broke up a fight between Alex and Tony on the playground. Tony said Alex shoved him off the swings, but Alex refused to give us his side of the story without his," she sighed again, "attorney present." 

Fox pressed her lips together, but her eyes were positively dancing with mirth. "Alex has always been a quick study with his constitutional rights."

The boy in question felt like he was about to fall asleep on Owen's shoulder. Owen bounced him lightly. "Alexander. Do you want to tell us what happened?" 

Alexander sat up and rubbed one eye. "He pushed Marcus out of the swing first. Marcus skinned his knee and cried. And Tony didn't say sorry." 

"I see," Owen said. "And then what happened?" 

Alexander put his head back on Owen's shoulder. "I tackled Tony and punched him like Mommy showed me." 

Fox snorted with laughter and immediately covered it with a cough. 

"Well, that sounds reasonably straightforward," Xanatos said. "Alex was standing up for his friend."

Mrs. Chadwick spun on him. "Did you miss the part where he tackled our son out of the swing and punched him?" 

Fox put her hands on her hips. "After your son pushed a boy out of the swing and made him cry, and didn't apologize for it." She turned to Mrs. Hadley. "Alex has a very strong sense of justice. I suppose it comes from growing up with a clan of gargoyles in the house."

Both the Chadwicks wrinkled their noses at the mention of the gargoyles. Hm. So they were _those_ types. That was good to know. 

"Owen, would you mind taking Alex out to the car?" Xanatos asked. "He's tired, and we won't be much longer here." 

That last sentence was uttered in a tone that said everybody in that room was about to have a _number_ of regrets.

"Of course," Owen said, and left them to it. It was doubtful they'd need him for anything else, and Xanatos would tell him if anything important happened. 

Alexander felt like a lead weight in his arms, which was a sign that he was sound asleep. He didn't often take afternoon naps nowadays, but Owen supposed it had been a busy day for him. 

"If you're going to insist in following in the clan's footsteps, our next lessons should probably be about how to do so without getting caught," Owen told him quietly. "The principal visits will get tiresome for all of us _very_ quickly."

Alexander's response was a soft snore. 

Owen nodded. "Good, I'm glad to hear you agree." 

He unlocked the doors once they reached the car and lay Alexander down in the back seat. Alexander didn't so much as stir; he simply curled up and continued sleeping. 

It was strange. Never, in the many centuries he'd been alive, had Owen ever considered he might be a parent someday. In fact, not long ago, he would have balked at the thought. 

Then Xanatos had happened. And shortly thereafter, Alexander had happened. And now Owen could not imagine—did not _want_ to imagine—his life any other way.

He sat on the back seat beside Alexander and reached over to very gently pat his shoulder. He didn't want to disturb the boy. "You did well today, Alexander. Regardless of what your teachers may say." He cleared his throat. "I'm very proud of you." 

Alexander, of course, was not awake to hear him, but that was all right. Owen had a feeling he would have many more occasions to utter those words.


	10. Chapter 10

_August 2012_

Alex figured it would be sometime at school the next day before he heard back from the Weird Sisters. They'd have to go back to Avalon, deliver his message, probably listen to Oberon rant for a solid thirty minutes, and then come back with whatever the decision was. And even _with_ the near-instantaneous travel they had, time on Avalon and time on Earth still moved differently. 

But Coyote was waiting for him at the elevators of the Eyrie Building when Alex was about to go upstairs for dinner. 

He immediately dropped into a defensive stance. "What do you want?" 

Coyote laughed and held up his hands. "Relax, kid. You sent a message. I'm just here to deliver the answer." 

"Well, that was fast." Alex straightened. "What's the answer?" 

Coyote grinned. "Lord Oberon agrees to your terms. _But_." 

Fuck. Of course there was a _but_. 

"If you fail your test, then clearly you aren't getting the proper training you need here in the mortal world," Coyote said. "So if you fail, you'll stay on Avalon. Permanently." 

Alex was going to punch this guy right in his smug face. "No."

Coyote raised his eyebrows. "Those are Oberon's terms. You don't say no." 

"I _do_ say no," Alex snapped. "Oberon's already getting what he wants with testing me in the first place. If he doesn't agree to _my_ terms, the deal's off." 

The smile slipped, just a hair, as Coyote apparently realized Alex wasn't fucking around with this. "But Lord Oberon agreed to your terms." 

"He didn't agree to my terms. He modified them." Alex fixed him with the most disdainful look he could, developed from literal years of watching Owen put people in their place without a word. "This isn't a negotiation. This is me telling you how it's going to be. And if Oberon doesn't like that, he can go sit on a cactus for all I care." 

Coyote scoffed and backed away from the elevators. "It's clear Puck didn't bother teaching you any manners."

"I don't know why you think _Puck_ , of all people, would've considered teaching me manners." Alex pointed at the front doors, and infused his next words with power. "Now get the _hell_ out of my house."

Coyote's eyes went wide, and then he disappeared and reappeared outside the front doors. Even from the elevators, Alex could see his stunned look. 

Good. That was just a taste of what Puck _had_ taught him, and it was a hell of a lot more useful than manners. 

"Take _that_ message back to Oberon," Alex muttered, and punched the up button.

***

The best thing about Friday nights, in Alex's opinion, was the fact that everybodyeither had the night off or took the night off. Dad and Owen took off work promptly at five; Aunt Elisa came over as soon as her shift finished at six; Lex didn't work on Friday or Saturday nights; and the mutates took over the patrol of the city every Friday so that the gargoyles had an entire night off as a clan. And since Alex didn't have school the next day, he didn't have to be in bed by ten. Which meant he could hang out with Lex as long as he could keep his eyes open. 

Usually Fridays meant his entire family was hanging out together, but this Friday in particular was Date Night, as Alex privately called it, because Mom and Dad, Aunt Elisa and Goliath, and Broadway and Angela were all out being couple-y for the first part of the evening. Alex and Owen were in the big TV room with the rest of the clan, Alex playing video games with Lex and Brooklyn while Owen and Hudson were bent over the chessboard, halfway into their second game of the night. Bronx went back and forth between Hudson and Alex, searching for whoever was more likely to scratch behind his ears. 

It was one of Alex's favorite times, his family chill and together, even if they weren't all doing the same activity. 

Coyote's words from earlier floated up from the back of his mind. 

_If you fail, you'll stay on Avalon. Permanently._

Alex clenched his jaw and sniped a dude on the game. Like _hell_. His parents hadn't let Oberon take him sixteen years ago; Alex wasn't going to let it happen now. He was going to get Puck's magic back _without_ either of them losing this. 

_BOOM._

The room shook, hard enough to send dust raining from the ceiling, and Owen and Brooklyn were immediately on their feet. 

"What was that?" Brooklyn asked. 

Lex tossed his controller and bounded across the room to the security panel. "On it!" 

Owen was already on his phone. "The shield's activated." He paused. "The magic shield." 

Alex scrambled to his feet, dread pooling in his stomach. "Magic shield? What—" 

The screen on the security panel flickered to life, multiple camera feeds showing the outside of the castle. Alex didn't see anything at first, until his eyes hit the feed on the courtyard. 

A tall man stood there, his arms outstretched, massive white cape billowing in the wind that Alex was ninety percent sure hadn't been blowing just a few minutes ago. His skin was blue, his hair was white, and his ears were sharply pointed. And he looked absolutely _furious_.

Alex's heart stopped. This had to be Oberon. 

"Oh, _shit_ ," Brooklyn said. "Lex, call Goliath and Broadway and tell them to get back here, _now_."

Owen's hand landed on his shoulder. "Alexander. Get to your room and stay there." 

Alex spun on him. "What?! No way, I—" 

" _Alex_." The hand on his shoulder tightened. "Now."

Alex froze and stared up at him. Owen had never, not once in sixteen years, used his nickname instead of his full name. 

Owen had also never, not once in sixteen years, looked as _fucking terrified_ as he did right now. 

Alex was starting to regret telling Oberon to go sit on a cactus. He grabbed Owen's arm. "Owen, are you—" 

"I will be fine," Owen said. "Now _go_."

He was lying to Alex's face, but now was not the time to point that out. Instead, Alex nodded once and bolted out of the TV room, leaving Brooklyn spitting orders to Lex and Hudson and Owen on the phone, probably calling Dad and Mom. 

He'd go to his room, sure. But he wasn't staying there. 

The castle shook again as Alex was running through the halls, Oberon undoubtedly continuing his assault. It was too soon; it was _way_ too soon, but if Oberon was here, Alex was damned if he was going to sit aside and let the rest of his family charge into the fight when Oberon was here for _him._

He ran into his room and to his closet, where Dad had let him start storing his battle armor after they'd finished the fifth version a couple of months ago. Alex hauled the box out and tapped in the code to open it. It took him three tries. His hands were shaking. 

_No._ It was going to be fine. He wasn't going into this alone, even if he had to fight Oberon one-on-one. He had Titania's magic, Puck's training, Dad's science, and Mom's fighting skills. 

Alex clenched his fists. Mom had hurt Oberon without any training. _With_ training? 

Alex was going to wipe the fucking _floor_ with him. 

He jerked open the box and pulled on the boots, gauntlets, and chest piece. He pressed a button on each one, and the armor extended in segments up his arms, down his legs, and over his back. No weapons, but then, Alex didn't need weapons. He _was_ the weapon. The armor was just his battery pack. 

There were only two additional pieces to it: the shield his dad had built into the left gauntlet, and a thin iron chain Alex had wound into the right one. 

He yanked his helmet on, tapping the side to activate the visor. His room sprang into view again, this time with a computer readout over it. 

The castle shook again, and the display turned red, indicating a threat in the courtyard.

This was as ready as he was ever going to get. 

Alex took a deep breath and ran to join the battle.

***

He did not run down to the courtyard entrance, but ran up instead, back through the castle to get on top of the tower with the best view of the courtyard. Alex thought about teleporting—it would be faster—but he had limited energy and he needed to save every speck of it for fighting Oberon himself. 

He mentally ran through everything he'd heard about Oberon from every source he had as he climbed. Mom, Dad, Owen, Aunt Elisa, Goliath, Angela—they had all faced Oberon one way or another and all of them had been more than happy to answer Alex's questions about him over the years. None of it was going to compare to fighting Oberon himself, but it was knowledge. And it was better than going in with nothing. 

Alex burst onto the top of the tower and looked down. One side of the castle wall was smoking, and given that the shield was down, Alex guessed that was where the power generators had been. 

He scanned for the others. He spotted Goliath and Elisa but not Broadway and Angela; they must still be on their way. Mom and Dad weren't here yet, either. Lexington, Brooklyn, Bronx, Hudson, all standing and accounted for, swooping around the courtyard and narrowly avoiding Oberon's wrath. They weren't trying to fight, which was probably smart; staying out of Oberon's way and wearing him down was a way better plan. Even _without_ any direct hits, Oberon was making quick work of them. 

But Alex didn't see Owen. 

A small red-and-purple figure darted out from behind one of the trees, using the roots and the rocks in the courtyard to tie up Oberon's ankles and bind his wrists. "Ah, my lord Oberon! Long time, no see." 

" _Puck_ ," Oberon snarled. "What are _you_ doing here?" 

"Well, you see, young Alexander is currently in need of protection." Puck floated up into the air. "And as his parents aren't home, that job falls to me. If you want me to go away, you'll need to stop _attacking our home._ " 

Oberon snapped the roots binding his wrists and flicked his hand. Puck went flying into the parapets, hitting the stone with a _crunch_ Alex heard even from the tower. 

"I should not be surprised you didn't bother to teach the boy humility." Oberon advanced on him. "Considering that is a lesson you never bothered to learn." 

Puck laughed and got up, slower than he usually did. "Well, what can I say? Kid's a chip off the old block. All three of them."

Oberon raised his fist. 

Alex scrambled onto the edge of the tower and jumped, teleporting as he did. 

He reappeared in the air beside Oberon and slammed a gauntleted, magicked fist right in the side of Oberon's smug face. 

Oberon stumbled back, and Alex hit the dirt and struck him again, two jabs and a kick combination that knocked him halfway across the courtyard. 

Alex smacked the side of his helmet to raise the visor and turned to Puck. "Are you okay?!"

Puck gaped at him for a full few seconds before he grabbed Alex's arms. "I told you to stay in your room!" 

Alex gave him the most distinctly unimpressed look he could muster. "Right. Like I was going to do _that_."

" _You insolent—_ "

Alex spun at the voice and crouched in a defensive stance, ready for Oberon's next attack. 

Oberon held out his hand, and Alex punched the ground with his gauntlet. 

A beam of green light shot from Oberon's fingertips just as Alex raised the shield, sending his magic into it the same way he had the very first day. It reflected Oberon's magic back at him, knocking him the rest of the way across the courtyard and flat on his ass in the process. 

"You hurt him." Puck sounded awed. "You hurt him _twice_." 

Alex stood up and grinned back at him. "Want to see me do it again?" 

Puck matched his grin. "Like you would not _believe_."

A gust of wind blew across the courtyard, knocking them both over, and Alex grappled for a grip on the stone to keep from being blown over the edge. He heard the clan shouting behind him; he hoped they were okay. 

With a grunt, Alex raised his shield again, stretching it the width of the courtyard, forcing it up through the magic wind until it was high enough to block the tempest. 

"Everybody okay?" he yelled back over his shoulder. 

He didn't hear anybody behind him say "no," so Alex would count that as a win. He got to his feet, but he didn't dare let up on the shield. He wasn't giving Oberon the chance to attack them a second time. 

"Oberon!" Goliath strode up to stand by Alex. "What is the meaning of this? Why do you attack our home?" 

Oberon waved his hand, and the roaring wind cut off completely. "My quarrel is not with you, Goliath. My business is only with the boy." 

"Did you change your mind about the terms?" Alex asked. 

Oberon fixed his icy blue gaze right on Alex. " _You_ do not set terms. When I order, you obey." 

"And I said _no_ ," Alex shot back. "If you want to test me, it's my way or the highway."

"You _impudent_ child." Oberon raised his arms. "If you will not bow to my command, then you will test yourself against _me!_ " 

Alex tapped his gauntlets together, and they sparked. "Then let's fucking _go_ , asshole." 

_And I'll show you why you never mess with a Xanatos_.

Puck grabbed his arm. "Alexander—" 

Alex pulled away. "I've got this," he said, with _way_ more confidence than he felt. "Take care of the others."

Then he dropped the shield and charged. 

His first order of business was getting Oberon away from the castle and away from the populated areas of the city. If he flew, he could probably get Oberon to follow him pretty easily. 

Alex jumped in the air and looked down, intending to yell another taunt. Oberon raised his hand, and Alex lifted his gauntlets to block the attack, only to realize there was no attack to block. Oberon flickered out of existence, and the magic pulled Alex along. 

They were teleporting. 

_Oh, shit._


	11. Happy Owen Day

_June 2003_

"Mommy?" 

Fox looked up from her book to see Alex standing in the doorway, his green eyes huge and wobbly. 

_Crap_. She put the book down. "Alex, kiddo, what's wrong?" 

"Have you seen Puck?" Alex asked, his voice wavering like he was about to start sobbing. 

Fox shook her head. "Not since you two went off for training. Are you playing hide-and-seek again?" 

"No." Alex took a deep, heaving breath. "We were training and I gave him a present and then he got a funny look on his face and he teleported and then I looked all over the castle _twice_ and I can't find him and I said I give up but he _still_ didn't come out and—" 

Fox immediately crossed the room to pick Alex up— _God_ , six-year-olds were heavy—and hug him as fiercely as she could. "It's okay, kiddo. We're going to find him." 

_We're going to find him and I'm going to_ kill _him._

"Do we need to call Aunt Elisa and file a missing persons report?" Alex asked between sniffles. 

Fox shifted Alex to one hip so she could get out her phone. "No, we're going to call Owen first and see if he's answering his cell phone." _  
_  
She dialed, but Owen's phone went straight to voicemail, which meant either the battery was dead—which _never_ happened—or he was somewhere without service. Since teleporting had happened, Fox put her money on the latter. 

She hung up and called David. 

"Where the hell is your boyfriend?" she demanded as soon as he picked up.

David paused a beat. "I'm guessing no longer training with Alex." 

"No," Fox said, struggling mightily to keep her voice calm, since Alex's head was on her shoulder and he was still obviously trying not to cry. "Alex is with me. Owen apparently teleported somewhere while they were training. Alex searched the entire castle twice and couldn't find him. And he's not answering his cell phone." 

David swore under his breath. "Maybe he—" 

"He left our son alone," Fox snapped, cutting off whatever potential explanation was forthcoming. "Find him before I do."

Then Alex lost his battle with the tears and she had to hang up.

***

Fox did not have a chance to look for Owen because she had her hands full with an utterly inconsolable six-year-old. Alex clung to her and cried, his sobs interspersed with broken explanations and apologies that Fox could only partly understand because each one dissolved into a wail before he finished a coherent sentence. The only thing she _did_ glean was that Alex was convinced this was his fault somehow, and _wow_ , Fox was really hoping something horrible and potentially life-threatening had happened to Owen after he'd vanished and that was why this was taking so long, because otherwise she was going to kill him and David was _never_ going to find his body. 

It took nearly two hours for Alex to calm down enough so that the sobs were sniffles, and Fox still hadn't heard anything from David or Owen. She called Elisa to make sure she knew what was going on so that _she_ could help David, and kept an eye on the sun so that she could get the clan into searching as soon as they were awake. 

As soon as she hung up with Elisa, she looked down to see Alex staring up at her with a tear-streaked face and no small amount of determination. "I can help." 

Fox crouched down and hugged him. "Not right now, kiddo. You've got to let us handle this. Aunt Elisa's a good detective. She'll help your daddy find Owen." 

"But Aunt Elisa can't teleport!" Alex protested. "I can!" 

Fox's heart actually stopped. "Alex. No. You are not going to teleport after him." 

"But—" 

"You have no idea where Owen is. You can't find him if you don't know where to start looking." _I'm going to kill him, I'm going to kill him, I'm going to strangle him with my bare hands_. "You need to stay here with me, okay? Daddy and Aunt Elisa are going to find him, and as soon as they're awake, the gargoyles will help look, too." 

Alex's lower lip wobbled. "But what if he's in trouble? I can do magic!" 

Fox smoothed back his hair. "Owen is very capable of taking care of himself. I know you want to help, but—"

Her phone rang, and Fox glanced at the screen just long enough to confirm it was David before she answered. " _Please_ tell me you found him." 

"We did," David said. "He's in Ireland." 

" _Ireland?!_ " Fox shouted. "What the hell is he—" 

"No idea." David's tone was very short. "I'm leaving in half an hour to get him." 

Fox was still stuck on Owen somehow ending up in _Ireland_. "Is he okay?" 

She wasn't sure what she wanted the answer to be, but she knew Alex would want to know.

"He's not hurt," David said. "As for the rest, we'll see." 

He hung up and Fox turned back to Alex. "Good news! Daddy found Owen. He's going to leave in just thirty minutes to bring him home." 

Alex sniffled. "But I want to go, too!" 

"No, kiddo, Daddy and Owen have to talk first." She really hoped David was going ask him what the hell he'd been thinking. "They'll be back here before you know it." She scanned the room and her eyes fell on Alex's art supplies. "I have an idea. Why don't you make a picture for Daddy to take with him?" 

Alex's eyes welled up with tears. "But that's what made Owen leave!" 

Fox paused. "What do you mean, that's what made Owen leave?" 

Alex swiped a fist across his face. "I gave him a picture for Owen Day and he left." 

Fox stared at him, slowly parsing that sentence. "You gave him a picture for _Owen Day?_ "

"He doesn't have a birthday!" Alex said, sounding just as scandalized as he had the first time he'd found that out. "You have a birthday and Mother's Day, and Daddy has a birthday and Father's Day, and _I_ have a birthday and Aunt Elisa has a birthday and all the gargoyles have their hatching days but Owen doesn't have any day." 

Like watching a train wreck, Fox was suddenly _painfully_ aware of what must have happened. "So you decided he needed a special day." 

Alex nodded earnestly. "I did! I made a card all by myself but Lex and Broadway helped me make cupcakes and I was gonna surprise him after training like me and Daddy surprised you with pancakes and orange juice on Mother's Day." He heaved in a deep, shaky breath. "I even put Owen and Puck on the card because I didn't know which one he'd want but then I gave it to him and he—" 

He dissolved into tears again, and Fox pulled him into a hug and rubbed his back. How, _how_ she and David had ended up with a kid as sweet and thoughtful as Alex, she would never in her life understand, but she wouldn't trade it for anything. "Oh, Alex, that was a wonderful gift." 

Alex sobbed something that Fox _guessed_ was supposed to be "but he didn't like it." 

She pulled back and wiped the tears off his face. "I promise you, Owen loved it. And when Daddy brings him back, I guarantee you he's going to tell you that himself." 

Alex hiccupped. "But then why did he leave?" 

Fox had her suspicions, but that wasn't something she could explain to Alex. "I don't know, kiddo. Sometimes adults do things that don't make sense to anybody but them. But I know it wasn't because he didn't like it." 

Alex frowned. "That's dumb."

Fox sighed. "It really is."

He regarded her steadily. "Daddy's really gonna bring Owen back?" 

She nodded. "He is. Has your dad _ever_ broken a promise to you?" 

Alex seemed to consider this, and then gave her a tentative gap-toothed smile. "No." 

Fox ruffled his hair. "There you have it. He's going tonight and they'll be back tomorrow morning." 

Alex's eyes widened. "Before I wake up?" 

Fox considered the travel times from New York to Dublin. "Probably not before you wake up, but definitely before lunch."

"Can we meet them in the courtyard?" Alex asked. 

She hugged him again. "Yes, we can."

***

At eight-thirty the next morning, Fox was standing outside in the courtyard with one hand wrapped around a coffee mug and the other with a death grip on Alex's shoulder to keep him from bolting toward the helicopter currently negotiating its way down. Sure, he could teleport away from her, but she hoped that something physically holding him in place would remind him that was a bad idea. 

The helicopter finally landed and the door slid open, and Owen disembarked with David right behind him. Alex's entire body tensed like he was about to launch himself across the courtyard. 

Fox tightened her grip on his shoulder. "Alex. Wait." 

She didn't let go until David and Owen were clear of the rotors, and as soon as she did, Alex took off like a shot and ran straight into Owen's legs with a wail they could probably hear down at the street level. " _I'm sooooooorrrrryyyyyyyy!_ "

Owen looked stricken, and he gently pried Alex off his legs and knelt on the ground so he was closer to Alex's height. "You have nothing to apologize for, Alexander." 

Alex hiccupped and rubbed his eyes. "I wanted t-to come f-find you b-but Mommy wouldn't l-let me." 

Owen visibly paled. Fox narrowed her eyes. Good, let him see what she'd been dealing with since he'd fucked off to Ireland. Alex was definitely ahead of most kids his age, but he was still only _six_. 

"Alexander, that would have been a very bad idea and I'm very grateful your mother didn't let you," Owen said. "I'm very sorry and I promise I won't do it again." 

Alex let out another wail. "I didn't mean to make you _leave!_ " 

At that, Owen looked up at Fox, panic in his eyes. She met his gaze with a flat look of her own. She had _zero_ sympathy for him right now. Let Alex lay on the unintentional guilt trip; Owen deserved it.

"You did _not_ make me leave," Owen said. "I should not have left in the first place. And I'm very sorry for causing you so much distress." 

"But why did you leave?" Alex asked, scrubbing the tears off his cheek. 

Owen hesitated.

David ruffled Alex's hair. "Alex, sometimes people have personal reasons for the things they do that they don't want to share. The important thing is that it's not your fault, and it's not going to happen again." 

The last sentence was very clearly directed more to Owen than to Alex.

"It's not," Owen confirmed. 

Alex sniffled, and he shuffled closer to Owen. Thankfully, Owen picked up on the cue and lifted his arms to give Alex a hug. Alex immediately latched onto him like a barnacle and from the look of it, he wasn't letting go anytime soon.

Fox rubbed her temple. Well, thank God _that_ whole mess was over. She was pretty sure Alex wasn't going to let Owen out of his sight for the next several days. 

Owen started back toward the castle, and paused when he got close to Fox. "I'm—" 

"Don't apologize to me," Fox cut in, and jerked her chin at Alex, still clinging to Owen's neck. "He's the one you need to make it up to." 

Owen nodded stiffly and headed on inside. 

Fox caught David's arm before he could follow. "Please tell me he did not fuck off to Ireland because Alex gave him a _card._ "

David's eyes lingered on Owen and Alex for a beat before he turned his attention to her. "Not intentionally. He just meant to end up somewhere else. Ireland happened to be it." He sighed. "Apparently Puck didn't know how to handle it when Alex gave him the card and explained the significance of it. So he teleported somewhere to figure it out, forgetting that he couldn't teleport _back_ without Alex." He shook his head. "He had to walk four miles to get somewhere with cell service."

Fox liked being right about a lot of things. She didn't like being right about this. She scowled into her coffee. "I thought we were past this." 

David slid his arm around her waist and kissed the side of her head. "I know. I did, too."

Fox rested her head on his shoulder and sipped her coffee. Owen had always struggled with how to handle Alex's unfettered adoration, especially as Alex had gotten older and it was more specifically directed at him. Sure, it wasn't something you really understood until you got to be a parent, and while Fox wasn't privy to all the information on Owen's life that David was, she was reasonably sure Alex was the closest he'd come to that role. But at this point, he'd had nearly seven years to come to terms with the fact that Alex absolutely loved him. She'd hoped that he was starting to get used to it. 

Clearly not, if Alex giving him what was essentially a birthday card was enough to send him halfway across the damn globe. 

"We're sure it's not going to happen again?" Fox asked. 

Because if it happened again, David wasn't going to be the one going after Owen. _She_ was.

"It's not," David assured her. "Although that's probably because the idea of Alex trying to go after him scares him more than you do." 

"Good," Fox muttered.

***

Unsurprisingly, Alex spent the rest of the day shadowing Owen, who did not make a single peep of protest about it. He even offered to handle getting Alex ready for bed. Fox was more than happy to let him; she figured the offer was twofold anyway. A way of apologizing to her and David for taking off as abruptly as he had, and a way of reassuring Alex he hadn't left because he was angry. 

She was taking some of Alex's clothes back to his room sometime after he'd gone to bed and was about to open the door when she heard Owen's voice inside. Fox froze with her hand on the knob. 

"I am very sorry," Owen said, quietly enough that Fox had to strain to make out the words. 

Alex didn't respond. She wondered if he was asleep. Given the time, that was likely.

"There aren't families on Avalon," Owen continued. "Not like humans have them, anyway, with parents and children. And even here, it was only something I saw, never something I experienced." 

It was quiet for a moment, long enough that Fox wondered if he'd given up trying to articulate whatever he was thinking. She probably shouldn't have been eavesdropping, but fuck it, she'd done much worse things in her life for much worse reasons. 

"I knew what I was getting into with your father," Owen said. "You, on the other hand...I had no idea. And nothing on Earth or Avalon could have prepared me for it. There are no rules, no contracts, just...feelings."

The way he said the word—slightly confused, slightly awed—made Fox wonder if Owen had ever experienced a single tender emotion in his immortal life before meeting David. She decided she probably didn't want to know the answer to that question. 

"I thought that would resolve itself the longer you were around, but I'm afraid I continue to find myself astoundingly out of my depth." Owen cleared his throat. "Please know that I care about you very much, Alexander. And I'm truly sorry if I made you doubt that for even a moment." 

Fox stepped silently back from the door and wiped her eyes. Well. That was certainly one step toward earning forgiveness. Maybe next time he'd do it where Alex was awake to hear.


	12. Chapter 12

_August 2012_

Alex slammed into the ground and rolled, scrambling to his feet as fast as he could. Where the _hell_ had Oberon dragged him? 

He scanned the area, taking in as much of his surroundings as possible. Lots of trees, all of them thick with leaves blocking out the night sky, so a forest somewhere. The air was warm, but not too humid, and had none of the usual city sounds and smells, so they weren't in New York City anymore. No animal sounds, either, which was really weird. _  
_  
And Alex could _feel_ magic, crackling in the air around him like lightning during a storm. Just breathing seemed to set his entire body alight with it. 

Holy shit, was he on Avalon?

The shock lasted for all of three seconds before Alex remembered he had a very large and pissed-off fairy king looking to take out his spine the hard way, and now said fairy king had a home field advantage. 

_Crap._

Sure enough, Oberon floated down through the trees and into view. "Now, boy, we will have no more interruptions. It is time to see what your training has wrought."

Alex made a fist and muttered the spell under his breath as fast as he could. 

_Fire, lightning, water, race!_   
_Wipe that smug look off his face._

He punched upward and let loose the largest fireball he'd ever created. 

Oberon was still monologuing, because apparently he'd never seen a single movie in his literal _millennia_ of existence. "You will test yourself against the lord of— _ARGH!_ "

Alex jumped while he was distracted and followed the fireball with a kick directly to the back of Oberon's head, knocking him out of the air and face-first into the ground. _God_ , that felt good. 

Anybody else, that would've been the end of the fight. But Oberon turned over with a snarl on his face and murder in his eyes. "You are very quickly becoming a nuisance." 

Alex stayed floating in the air. "Does that mean we're done here?" 

Oberon stood and whipped his cape around. "This contest is over when _I_ say it is over, not a moment before." 

Alex charged his gauntlets again. "Then you're about to find out just how much of a nuisance I can be." 

He fired two more fireballs, which Oberon blocked with a whip of his cape. Not surprising, since Alex had telegraphed the act, but it reinforced one of the lessons he'd learned: one had to either surprise Oberon or overwhelm him. It was the only way to get a hit in. "Overwhelm" wasn't really something Alex could do on his own, so "surprise" it was.

And he absolutely, positively could not let Oberon get a hit in. 

He sent off another flurry of fireballs, and then teleported behind Oberon to punch him in the back. Oberon grunted and spun on him, and Alex jumped back out of the way. 

Oberon raised a hand. "This is Avalon. The very land bows to my command, as you will learn to do." 

Alex took off into the air, but a root snagged his ankle and yanked him back down. Before he could move, another root wrapped around one of his arms. 

He tried to jerk away, and when that didn't work, Alex went for fire again. Living magical wood didn't burn as well as dry wood, but it was enough to get him free. 

Alex shot into the air as soon as the roots were off him, zigzagging to keep away as they tried to grab him again. He sent a bolt of lightning back at them, and both roots exploded. 

Oberon narrowed his eyes. "Clever. But I suspect you would not be as strong without that armor." 

Alex turned upside down and grinned. "Are you saying the great lord Oberon needs a handicap against a sixteen-year-old mortal?" 

The narrowed eyes turned into an all-out glower.

Yeah, _that_ had pissed him off. Alex spun himself upright again. "Yeah, didn't think so. Catch me if you can!"

He shot off across the island, putting as much distance between him and Oberon as he could. Not that it mattered; Oberon could probably teleport to wherever Alex ended up, anyway, but it gave him some time to scope the land and think. 

Avalon was Oberon's land, sure, but the magic here was up for the taking. Aunt Elisa had told him about the Magus using the power of the island itself to get her into King Arthur's tomb, and Puck had told him pretty much all of Oberon's Children were stronger on Avalon, where magic was as much a part of the world as the water and the trees and the air. 

This might be Oberon's home field, but Alex got an advantage as well. 

He sketched out a mental map of the island as he flew at breakneck speeds: the forests, the cliffs and the beaches, the volcano, Oberon's castle itself. He'd stay away from there; the Avalon Clan lived near the castle and Alex wasn't about to bring this fight to them. 

The shape of the air changed, making the hair on Alex's neck stand on end, and he veered to the side as hard as he could. Not a moment too soon; a second later the scent of lightning filled the air and his vision went totally white. 

Alex brought the shield up again just as the resulting thunder cracked so loud his ears rang, the force of it knocking him back down into the grass. Even with the shield, it knocked the wind out of him. 

Shit, he was lucky that hadn't hit him head-on. 

Alex rolled to his side, struggling to get his breath back, and crawled over to the shadow of one of the trees. 

"Did you really believe I could not catch you?" Oberon's voice rang out above the trees. "That Avalon itself would not aid its lord and master? I was of a mind to be merciful before, to allow you the chance to test yourself against one closer to your capabilities. But no longer." 

Alex closed his eyes and whispered a spell. 

_Shadows black and dark as night,_   
_Hide me well from Oberon's sight._

He crept further back into the trees, just as Oberon slowly alighted on the path between them. His entire body looked like it was covered with diamond.

Well, that limited Alex's ability to get some hits in. 

"It is abundantly clear there are aspects of your training that Puck has neglected," Oberon continued. "That cannot be allowed to stand. And if I cannot have his loyalty, then I will demand yours." 

Alex got first to his knees, then to his feet, fighting to keep absolutely silent. The shadows would keep Oberon from seeing him, most likely, but that said nothing for _hearing_ him. 

Oberon walked forward along the path, his diamond skin glittering in the moonlight. "You cannot hide from me, grandson of Titania. I see all on this island." 

_Let's find out what you see_ , Alex thought, and searched the ground along the path for a suitable rock or a log. He spotted a fallen tree about twenty yards up, right where Oberon would pass it. 

Alex closed his eyes, reached for his magic, and made the log to look like him. Illusions were Puck's specialty, not his, but Alex had picked up a _lot_ of tricks for them over the years. 

Sure enough, Oberon stopped and turned toward the log. " _There_ you are."

He raised his fist and brought it down, smashing both the log and the illusion to pieces. 

_Shit_. Alex's stomach dropped. 

Oberon actually growled. "An illusion. Of course. I should have known you would follow in his footsteps." 

Alex frowned. Wait. Had Oberon not realized it was an illusion until he'd destroyed it?

He looked down at his hands. Dad had told him once that Oberon hadn't had a clue Owen was Puck until Owen transformed the night of the Gathering. And while Puck had recognized that Anastasia Renard was really Titania, _she_ had never realized that he was Owen. Alex had always assumed that meant he'd never be as good at illusions or shapeshifting as Puck, but...

But Puck _had_ been teaching him everything he knew. 

Alex moved through the woods as quickly and quietly as he could, sticking to the shadows. Yeah, he could make himself invisible for extra protection, but invisibility took a _lot_ of energy and Alex would rather save it for when he needed it. The armor was helping, but he wasn't used to using this much magic this fast. 

Oberon was still diamond-coated, which made him easy to track but meant Alex was going to have to rely on other non-physical methods of attacking him. 

Fortunately, he was forming a plan. 

He found another large branch and cast an illusion on it, throwing it into the air with his voice shouting "Catch me if you can!" 

He moved immediately to the next thing on the ground, a large rock that he turned into himself and sent barreling out of the woods and into the path. 

The next branch, he grabbed and teleported to another area before he cast the illusion and sent it after Oberon. None of them would last long, but they would piss Oberon off and make him use energy chasing them down, and hopefully keep him disoriented enough that Alex could stay hidden. 

His own voice echoed through the forest, layers of taunts and laughter, as Alex cast illusion after illusion. From his hiding spot in the woods, he could see Oberon chasing after each of them, lighting up the forest with the green blasts of his magic every time he took one down. 

Alex used the distraction to sneak behind him, keeping to the shadows, and touched one of the trees. "Go get 'im, boy." 

The tree's roots wiggled through the ground and wrapped around Oberon's ankles, and then yanked him straight into the ground. The only things poking out were his giant shoulder pads and his head. 

Alex had to bite his lip against laughing out loud. 

" _Enough!_ " Oberon roared, and burst out of the ground. 

The resulting explosion of energy threw Alex back through the woods, smack into a large boulder. The back of his armor cracked, and the readout in his visor dimmed worryingly. 

Crap. 

Alex hit a button on the chest piece to reset it, but nothing happened. Damn it. Only good now as protection. The gauntlets and helmet, at least, would still function for now, but he wasn't sure how much energy he had left in either. 

Or himself, for that matter. He didn't feel tired yet, but that didn't mean anything. Oberon wasn't showing any signs of slowing down. Alex had to find a way of stopping this, and fast. 

He caught a glimpse of Oberon floating through the forest, looking for him. "Your creativity is admirable, but you cannot win. Even Puck knows this. Why do you think he tried to keep you from me?" 

Invisibility time. Alex closed his eyes and focused until his body did the weird little shiver it always did when he became invisible, and then he launched himself into the air, accidentally breaking a stick in his wake. 

Oberon spun toward the noise and a split second later, there was a crater where the boulder had been. 

Holy _shit_. 

Alex floated in the air, hardly daring to move, but Oberon did not look up at him. Instead, he moved over to the crater, studying it. "I told you, you cannot hide. I will find you." 

Maybe, but he wasn't looking where Alex _was_ , which meant either the invisibility was working or he hadn't noticed Alex at all. To test, Alex threw the tiniest icicle into the forest behind Oberon, where it skittered through the leaves. 

Oberon whirled and incinerated a ten-foot area where the icicle had landed. 

Well, Alex was absolutely _not_ setting foot anywhere on the ground right now. But if he could keep Oberon distracted...then he might be able to get close enough to settle this stupid fight. 

He floated further away to change the angle of his icicles, and sent several down in rapid succession, so they sounded like footfalls on the ground, running away from Oberon. 

Oberon followed them. 

Okay, that was working, but Alex wasn't sure how _long_ it was going to work. Oberon would figure out Alex was toying with him, and _way_ sooner than Alex would like. He needed to find a place to stop this and soon. 

Alex scanned the forest below, searching for a large enough tree for his purposes. He spotted it about fifty yards away, closer to the castle but still far enough away that he was pretty sure they wouldn't disturb anybody living there. 

He wheeled around and flew in that direction, dropping icicles on the ground below, leading Oberon toward the tree. 

His whole body tingled with an influx of magic, and that was all the warning Alex had to activate his shield again. 

The blast hit him straight on, knocking him out of the sky and into the ground, and Alex rolled across the grass and slammed into a tree. The shield, once again, protected him from the worst of it, but _shit_ , he was lucky he hadn't broken anything. 

"You try deception with me?" Oberon's voice echoed above. "Pitiful. As if I could not see straight through your attempts." 

_Well, it was working, jackass_ , Alex thought, and got to his feet and rolled behind the tree. He wasn't invisible anymore and he'd need to catch his breath before he could try that again. 

Oberon landed on the ground, no longer with his diamond skin on. 

And standing right in front of the tree Alex had chosen. 

"Enough of this foolish running," Oberon said. "You are only tiring yourself." 

Alex rolled his eyes. Surely he didn't think that was _actually_ going to work. 

Oberon sighed heavily. "I must say, I am disappointed in your progress. Titania hoped you had great potential, but allowing you to remain in the mortal world was clearly a mistake."

Alex focused on the tree behind Oberon, and whispered his spell. 

_Tree of Avalon, at the ready_   
_Tie him up and hold him steady_

Two branches dipped and wrapped around Oberon's arms, yanking him back against the tree's trunk. 

Alex stepped out from his hiding place and fired the iron chain from his gauntlet, and the end embedded itself right in Oberon's chest. 

Oberon roared and tried to counter the spell, but Alex was already in the air, flying around the tree with the chain, dodging the branches that turned against him. He skidded to a stop in front of Oberon and hooked the other end of the chain to a free loop, before he pulled the iron out of Oberon's chest. 

Oberon lunged at him and Alex jumped back as fast as he could. 

The chain held fast, no matter how he struggled against it. 

Alex stared at it, still catching his breath and hardly daring to believe his eyes. 

Holy shit, he'd done it. He'd beaten Oberon. 

And from the glower on his face, Oberon knew it, too. 

Alex grinned. "Still think it was a mistake?"

"How dare you entrap me. We are—" 

"Yeah, yeah, lord of Avalon, king of the Third Race. Believe it or not, I _did_ pay attention when Puck was teaching me." Alex crossed his arms and leaned against a nearby tree. "Now let's discuss what you can do for me." 

"What makes you think we will do anything for you?" Oberon growled. 

Alex pointed to the chain. "Well, _I'm_ perfectly happy to leave you tied to that tree for the rest of eternity, but I don't think you'd like that very much. And I know you're thinking hey, you'll just get one of the mortals on the island to break it for you. Lots of gargoyles around, one of them could do it. _But._ " He held up a finger. "Do you really think any one of them is going to be willing to help you after the way you treated Goliath and his clan? Especially if it means going up against a _kid_ who kicked your ass?" 

Oberon regarded him with barely contained fury and, Alex thought, perhaps the tiniest smidgen of respect. "Very well. We are listening." 

_Bingo_. "Undo the punishment you set on Puck the night I was born." 

Oberon recoiled. "No." 

Alex pointed at the chain. "Dude, 'no' is not how this works. I make a request, you do it, I take the chain off. It's very simple, really." 

"I will not undo the punishment he so richly deserved," Oberon said. "You may make another request, if you like." 

Alex's heart started pounding harder. He shoved himself off the tree. "I said, undo the punishment you set on Puck the night I was born."

"And we said no." 

This wasn't an outcome Alex had prepared for. "Why the hell not?!" 

"His punishment stands for choosing a mortal over _me_." Oberon's voice dripped with venom. "A thousand years we gave him to learn manners, and he squandered it." 

"Manners you never bothered to learn," Alex snapped back. "Just like you never bothered to learn how to earn respect instead of demanding it." 

"It is our right as the _king!_ " Oberon's voice echoed through the forest.

"He didn't deserve what you did to him!" Alex shouted.

"We are the ones who decide what is or isn't deserved." Oberon smiled meanly. "Not you."

Alex was shaking with rage. He'd imagined a lot of outcomes in this scenario, but he hadn't ever imagined that he might win and Oberon would say no. That he would be _this close_ to getting Puck's powers back, only to have this _fucking asshole_ stand there, bound in iron, and refuse to do it because he was still butthurt that Puck had chosen Dad instead of him. 

Oberon straightened, like he was trying to look as royal as possible even tied to a tree. "As I said, I will deign to grant you another request."

Alex balled his fists. "I made my request." 

Oberon shrugged. "Then we are at an impasse. I will not undo his punishment when it is clear he still has not learned his lesson." 

That was the way Oberon wanted to play it? Fucking fine. If he liked lessons so much, Alex was going to teach him a _hell_ of one. 

He stepped forward, already drawing on his magic, finding reserves he didn't know he had. It probably helped that he had passed "outraged" several miles back and was in a state of fury like he'd never felt before. "I'll give you one more chance. Undo the punishment you put on Puck the night I was born." 

" _Never_ ," Oberon snarled.

"Okay then." Alex raised his hands. "You asked for it." 

He pulled even more magic to him—not just his own, but the very magic of Avalon itself, as much magic as the island would give him and then some. The wind roared through the clearing, bending the trees nearly to the ground, and green light skittered over Alex's skin. 

Now Oberon looked uncertain. "What are you doing?" 

Alex cast the spell. 

_One century, two centuries, three centuries, four_   
_And a fifth one, just to be sure_   
_Oberon's magic and Oberon's might_   
_Never accessed but at a human's plight_

A green glow surrounded Oberon, and he changed: his skin fading from blue to white, his hair getting shorter, his ears shrinking to match a human's. His clothes changed, too, to dark slacks and a jacket. Something normal and mortal. 

Alex stalked over and pressed one hand to Oberon's forehead and finished the spell.  
 _  
It's now done to you what you did to Puck_  
 _Get thee to Earth, asshole, and good fucking luck._  
  
He yanked his hand away, and Oberon vanished with a muffled shout. Thrown somewhere on Earth now. Alex didn't know or care where. 

The magic drained from him like water from a sieve, and Alex made it only two steps toward the castle before he collapsed in the dirt.


	13. A New Grandmother

_May 2002_

Alex was playing in the sandbox after school with Marcus when a tall lady he'd never seen before walked up to them. "Hello, Alexander." 

Alex looked her up and down. She wore a blue skirt and a blue jacket and she had long red hair, like Mommy's, but her hair was darker than Mommy's was and she was a lot older than Mommy. Although not as old as Mrs. Ashworth, the other kindergarten teacher. Her hair was all the _way_ white. 

"I'm not supposed to talk to strangers," Alex informed her, and went back to playing with Marcus. 

The lady didn't go away. Instead, she knelt by the sandbox. "That's a very good thing your parents have taught you," she said. "But I'm not a stranger." 

"Yes, you are," Alex said. "I don't know who you are so you're a stranger." 

The lady laughed. Something was weird about it. "That's ridiculous. I'm your grandmother, Alexander." 

Alex made a face. "I don't _have_ a grandmother. I have Papa and I have Grandpa Renard."

Marcus held up three fingers. "I have three grandmothers because my daddy has two mommies. So I have Nana and Gigi and Grammy." 

Alex nodded sagely. Three grandmothers sounded nice, but he liked Papa and Grandpa Renard. Besides, he lived with a whole _clan_ of gargoyles and nobody else got _that_. 

"Alexander," a new voice called. 

He jumped out of the sandbox at Owen's voice. "Bye, Marcus!" 

Marcus dumped a bucketful of sand over the castle they'd been building. "Bye!" 

Alex grabbed his backpack from beside the sandbox and ran over to Owen and hugged his legs. "Hi Owen!" 

Owen ran a hand over Alex's head. "Hello, Alexander. Did you have a good day at school?" 

"Yeah. We got to paint in art class and I painted Lex." Alex opened his backpack. "Wanna see?" 

"As soon as we get to the car," Owen said. "I'm certain Lexington will be very pleased to hear it." 

The tall lady walked over to them, an unsettling smile on her face. "Hello, Puck." 

Owen put his hand on Alex's shoulder. "Anastasia. What an unexpected surprise." 

Wait, Owen _knew_ her? And she knew Owen was Puck? Alex spun around and glared at the woman. If she knew Owen, she should know how to say his name right. "It's _Owen_ ," he corrected her. 

She smiled at him like he was the one who didn't understand. "Surely, Alexander, you know that's not his real name." 

Alex continued to glare at her. "Yes, it _is_. Blond hair and glasses is Owen. White hair and pointy ears is Puck." He pointed up at Owen's glasses. " _Owen_."

Really, he'd known this for ages and he wasn't even six yet; why was it so hard for this lady to understand? 

She looked back at Owen. "I see his manners leave something to be desired." 

Alex tightened his grip on Owen's slacks. He wasn't sure he liked this lady. "You're the one who's being rude. You're using the wrong name. And I'm right here. I can hear what you're saying. It's rude to talk over people instead of talking to them." 

The lady regarded him for a long moment, and then inclined her head. "That is true. I'm sorry, Alexander." 

He frowned. "You still need to say sorry to Owen, too." 

Owen squeezed his shoulder. "That will not be necessary, Alexander, but thank you. If you'll excuse us, Anastasia. We must be getting home." 

He steered Alex toward the parking lot. 

"I would like to see my grandson, Mr. Burnett," the lady called after them. 

"Then that is a conversation you should have with his parents," Owen responded, without pausing a beat in his stride. "I believe you still have Fox's number." 

He walked faster, and Alex had to jog to keep up with him, especially since Owen still hadn't let go of his shoulder. 

He didn't slow down at all until they were at the car, and he picked Alex up and buckled him into his booster seat without a word. He was moving a lot faster than he normally did, which was weird. It made Alex worried. 

"Owen?" Alex asked tentatively. "Are you mad at me?" 

Owen finally stopped moving, one hand on the back of the driver's seat and one on the seat beside Alex. "No. I'm not angry. You did nothing wrong. Do you understand?" 

Alex nodded. 

"I am...concerned," Owen said. 

"Why?" Alex asked. 

Owen took a deep breath. "I'm not sure I can explain."

"Is it because of that lady?" Alex asked. 

"Yes." 

Alex bit his lip. "Is she really my grandma?" 

Owen sighed. "Yes. Anastasia is Fox's mother. They had a disagreement the night you were born, and haven't spoken since. I don't think Fox or your father will be happy to know she came to see you without their knowledge." 

That sounded like a lot of grown-up problems. Alex made a face. "She should've asked permission before coming to see me." 

"Yes, she should've." Owen checked his seatbelt again. "And now we're going to go home and tell your parents all about it." 

"Okay," Alex said, and started digging through his backpack to find the paintings he'd done for art. Owen couldn't look at them while he was driving, but as soon as they got back to the Eyrie Building, he'd want to see them. Alex was sure of it. 

He looked back at the school one last time as they pulled out of the parking lot, and saw the lady still standing by the playground fence, watching them drive away.


	14. Chapter 14

_August 2012_

Alex drifted in and out of consciousness. At some point he went from lying on the ground to lying in a bed. He heard voices, but he couldn't identify any of them or what they were saying. At one point, he thought he heard Mom and Aunt Elisa, and then after that, he thought he was on a boat, but it was all probably just a dream. 

When he finally woke up fully, he was back in his own room, in his own bed, with sunlight streaming through the windows and raised voices in the hallway outside. 

Alex rubbed his head, trying to sort out what the hell had happened. The last thing he remembered was fighting Oberon. Fighting Oberon and _winning_. 

And now, somehow, he was home again. 

The voices outside his room got louder, and that was when Alex registered what they were saying. 

"My husband is _missing_ , David." That was Anastasia's voice. "And as far as I can tell, Alexander is the only one who might know where he is." 

"You'll forgive me if I'm not exactly broken up about that," Dad said. "And you can wait until Alex wakes up."

"David, please." That was Mom. "Mother, you can wait in the kitchen. I'll make you some tea." 

"I am not waiting in the kitchen," Anastasia said irritably. "I will wait right here." 

Alex sat up and swung his legs over the bed. He was still tired, but he wasn't dizzy or unsteady, so he'd take that as a win. He'd used a _lot_ more magic than he'd thought, and he still wasn't sure how long he'd been out. 

He slowly made his way across the room. The voices in the hallway outside were getting louder, and from the way it sounded, Anastasia was ready to break in to demand answers. 

Alex pulled the door open and leaned on the frame. Mom, Dad, and Owen were all standing between Anastasia and his bedroom, and Owen, at least, had moved slightly in front of Dad, although Alex couldn't say whose benefit that was for. 

Anastasia looked to him immediately. "Alexander. Good. Can you tell me where my husband is?" 

"No," Alex said bluntly. "I have no idea." 

Mom, Dad, and Owen all spun around to him, varying degrees of shock on their faces. 

Anastasia eyed him skeptically. "You have _no_ idea whatsoever?" 

Alex shrugged. "The spell just chucked him on Earth. I didn't really specify where." 

Her eyebrows shot up. "Earth?" 

" _Spell?!_ " Mom repeated. 

Dad and Owen shared a look. "Alex, I think you might want to start from the beginning with that," Dad said. 

Alex straightened up. "Oberon wanted to test me. He took me to Avalon and we fought." He looked straight at Anastasia. "And I _won_." 

She stared at him in disbelief. "That's impossible." 

Alex shrugged. "Apparently it's not, because I did it. I bound his ass to a tree with an iron chain. I also punched him. A lot." 

Mom covered her mouth. "Oh my _God_." 

"So is that why he is on Earth?" Anastasia said. "Because you were lording your victory over him?" 

" _No_ ," Alex snapped. "Because I had one request. One. Request. That I earned fairly. And he refused to honor it. So I figured he deserved a taste of his own medicine." 

Owen frowned at him. "Alexander...what did you _do?_ " 

Alex bit his lip. He wasn't sure how Owen was going to react to this. "I banished him from Avalon and took away his powers. He can only use them now when he's protecting humans." 

Owen...did not react. Owen just stared at him, completely blank-faced. 

Dad blinked at him. "Wait, wait, let me get this straight. After Oberon showed up here, he teleported you both to Avalon, you kicked his ass and made a request, and when he refused, you stripped him of his powers and banished him?" 

Well, when you put it like _that_... "Only for five hundred years," Alex muttered. "I figured that might be long enough for him to learn some damn manners." 

Mom's eyes were sparkling, and she was _very_ clearly fighting a smile. "I don't know. A thousand years wasn't long enough the first time." 

That was true. "I'm hoping the power limitation will help," Alex said. 

"I have to say, I'm upset," Dad said. 

Alex whirled around to him. "What?! _Why?_ " 

"My sixteen-year-old son wiped the floor with the overpowered jerk who tried to kidnap him the night he was born, and I didn't get to see _any_ of it?" Dad crossed his arms and shook his head. "Very upset about this, young man. I'll need details later." 

Alex laughed weakly. "Ha, yeah, you'll get them." 

He glanced back at Owen again, who _still_ hadn't reacted. Alex's stomach twisted. Was Owen mad at him? Had he done something wrong? Had that been going too far? 

Anastasia, on the other hand, was glowering at him with such fury it was a wonder Alex didn't just incinerate where he stood. "You know, it would not be difficult for me to find Oberon and remove your curse." 

Alex didn't back down. "Try it, and the same will happen to you." 

Because he could do it. If he could do it to Oberon, he could do it to Titania. It might wipe him out for another few hours or days or however long it had been, but he could do it. She might be his grandmother, but she'd been just as complicit in everything that happened the night he was born and Alex had _no_ problem keeping her on Earth for 500 years, too. 

After a long, long moment, Anastasia smiled and inclined her head. "Very well. I will allow your punishment to stand." 

"Damn right," Alex muttered. 

" _Alex_ ," Mom admonished, which was somewhat undermined by the fact that she was still trying not to laugh. 

Anastasia was still smiling, seemingly unoffended by the comment. "I knew you had great potential, Alexander. I am pleased to see that I was right." 

Alex looked at his parents. "I had good teachers."

Anastasia's gaze rested on each of them in turn, her eyes lingering on Owen the longest. "Yes, I suppose you did." 

Alex yawned, suddenly overwhelmed with exhaustion again. "I think I'm going to go lay back down. How long have I been out?" 

"For you, just a few hours," Dad said. "But my understanding is that the time on Avalon is...different from time here." 

Owen cleared his throat. "It's been nearly four days since Oberon attacked the Eyrie Building. Your parents brought you back early this morning. You've been asleep here since about five-thirty." 

Alex sagged against the doorframe. "Ugh." 

"You almost certainly need more sleep," Owen said, his voice unusually stiff and formal. "From the sound of it, you exhausted your energy entirely." 

"Yeah." Alex rubbed his head. "Felt like it." 

Mom touched his shoulder. "Go on, get some more rest. We'll bring you something to eat for whenever you wake up, and I'm sure the clan's going to be banging down your door as soon as the sun goes down." 

Alex jerked himself back up. "Are they okay? Was anyone hurt? Was—" 

"Everybody's fine." Mom gave him a half-smile. "No one was hurt, at least not beyond their ability to heal." She kissed the side of his head. "You can see for yourself when they wake up." 

Alex made a face, more for show than anything, because he didn't bother pulling away. " _Mom_." 

She pushed him back into his room. "Go on, go sleep." 

He staggered away from the door. "I'm going." 

It was a relief to hear the door close and the voices in the hall move away. That meant, undoubtedly, Anastasia would be gone when he got up again. 

Alex had never been sure how to feel about his grandmother, even before finding out she and Oberon had actively tried to kidnap him. She'd always seemed more interested in how his magical training was going than in him, and he could never tell if she wanted to get to know him for _him_ or because she had an ulterior motive. He'd mentioned it to Mom just once, but she'd gotten sad about it, and so Alex hadn't brought it up again. 

He climbed back into bed and dozed, not really sleeping but also too tired to fully wake up. He wasn't sure how much time had passed when he heard someone open his door and very quietly cross the room. 

Alex rolled over and saw Owen setting a plate with a sandwich and some carrots on his bedside table. 

Owen didn't look over at him. "My apologies, Alexander. I didn't mean to wake you." 

"Wasn't asleep." Alex gnawed at his lip, and then blurted out, "Are you mad at me?" 

That got Owen to look at him, wide-eyed. "No, of course not. Why would you think that?" 

"Just, you...didn't say anything." Alex buried his face in his pillow, and then turned his head toward Owen again. "I thought maybe I did something wrong." 

Owen shook his head. "No. You did nothing wrong. I said nothing because I had no idea what to say." His mouth tipped up in a faint smile. "I do agree with your father, though. I very much wish I could've seen that fight." 

Alex tentatively returned the smile. "Told you I'd hurt him again." 

"You did," Owen said quietly. "Now get some sleep." 

Alex debated eating the sandwich first, but decided against it. He was more wiped out than he was hungry right now. 

Owen started to leave. 

"Wait." Alex struggled back into a sitting position. "You didn't ask what my request was." 

Owen paused, but he didn't turn fully around. "Given that Oberon refused it and your choice of punishment, I'm not certain I need to." 

Ah. Yeah. Alex's shoulders sagged. It was hitting him, now, that he hadn't been able to achieve his _real_ goal. He'd beaten Oberon, yes, but... "I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to apologize for, Alexander." 

"It's not fair," Alex said, echoing the same sentiment that had been battering at the back of his mind for the past three years. 

Owen scoffed. "I'm afraid fairness is not among Oberon's traits, much as he would claim otherwise." He turned just enough that Alex could see the side of his face, then. "Oberon has not had anyone who could challenge him, let alone beat him, in my memory. You defied him and defeated him, and then demanded he undo the punishment he placed on someone the last time he was defied. He's not very forgiving when his pride has been wounded." 

Yeah. Alex had found that out the hard way. 

"Regardless, you should be exceedingly proud of yourself," Owen continued. "There's no one else on Earth or Avalon who could have done what you did." 

Alex hung his head. "It wasn't enough."

"I disagree," Owen said. "But that, I think, is a discussion that should wait for when you're more awake." 

Alex screwed up his nose, but he lay back down and listened to Owen leave the room. No matter what he said, it _wasn't_ enough. Three years Alex had been training for this, and Oberon had just said _no_. It wasn't right, and even worse, it meant that particular method was cut off for at least the next five hundred years. 

He'd beaten Oberon, but he'd still failed. And Owen was the one who had to pay for it.

***

Sure enough, as predicted, the clan showed up at his bedroom door about five minutes after sundown, clamoring to see if he was all right. Alex was _insanely_ glad to see them all; he knew none of them had been hurt beyond their ability to heal, but it was still good to see it. 

They also filled him in on what had happened at the castle after he'd disappeared. Mom and Dad had gotten back not even five minutes after Oberon had forcibly teleported him to Avalon, and once Owen had told them that's most likely where he'd been taken, Aunt Elisa had been on the phone with the police storage unit to get access to the skiff. She, Mom, and Dad had gotten the skiff to the nearest body of water to go after him. By the time they'd gotten to Avalon, Oberon was nowhere to be found and the Avalon Clan had found Alex passed out in the forest and brought him to the castle. 

"They were gone for three days," Lex told him. "I've never seen Xanatos so angry, and we've done a _lot_ to piss him off over the years." 

"Aye, but never have we threatened Alex," Hudson said. "We were irritants, in comparison." 

Alex wrapped his arms around Bronx, who'd shoved his way onto Alex's bed the second he'd gotten in the room, and relished in the happy snuffles he got in return. "Why'd it take so long for us to get back?" 

"I guess it took awhile for Elisa to convince them to let you go?" Lex scratched the back of his head. "Princess Katharine and the rest of the clan were hoping you'd be able to wake up and tell them what happened, and Elisa said she'd send word as soon as you did. One of Angela's rookery brothers came back with them to take the message." 

"You're lucky Avalon let you come straight back here," Broadway said. "The last time Goliath and Elisa went, they were gone for seven months." 

Alex made a face at that. "Maybe it knew Dad would just call for a plane wherever they landed." 

Brooklyn laughed. "Yeah, I can't see Xanatos ever letting a magical island tell him what to do."

Lex poked Alex in the shoulder. "Hey, you still look kind of down. Aren't you happy you beat Oberon?" 

"Yeah, but..." Alex sighed and rested his head on Bronx. "That wasn't what I really wanted."

Brooklyn raised an eyebrow. "You _didn't_ want to beat Oberon?" 

"Well, _yeah_ , I did, but I didn't want to beat him just to beat him." Alex sat back up. "I wanted to beat him so I could make a request. And he refused." He scratched behind Bronx's ears. "And now I don't know how I'm going to fix the thing I wanted fixed." 

"Look, Alex," Brooklyn said, "I don't know what you wanted from Oberon and I'm not going to ask, but I feel like if you're strong enough to kick his ass, you're strong enough to do whatever it is you thought you needed him for." 

"For sure," Lex piped up. "I mean, that means you're even stronger than Puck and probably Titania, too."

They were trying to help, and Alex appreciated it, but... "The thing I need to do might be impossible without Oberon." 

" _Beating_ Oberon was supposed to be impossible," Broadway pointed out. "But you did it." 

"Also, Alex, your dad's kind of made a career out of doing impossible things," Lex said. "They weren't always _good_ things, but he did them." 

That...was a good point. Alex was a Xanatos, dammit, and if there was anything he'd learned from watching his dad and grandfather, it was that you took whatever life threw at you and gave it back a dozen times harder. "Thanks, guys." 

Doing the magic himself was supposed to be impossible, but...

Yeah. If Alex could beat Oberon, he could figure _that_ out.

***

It took him the better part of a month to get back to normal. Alex guessed he shouldn't have been surprised that it took him so long to build his stamina back up, given that he'd literally never used that much magic before and Oberon was _way_ more powerful than him, but it was still irritating. He was able to go to school, sure, and do most of the things he could do normally, but he wasn't able to use any magic beyond the most basic and simple spells. 

It grated on him. He was impatient and he wanted to try to fix Owen's punishment himself as soon as possible, and every day he had to delay felt like an eternity. 

To help pass the time, Alex went through his room until he found his old notebook full of spells, most of them written before he'd gotten into high school. They were clumsy and didn't always have the effect he wanted, but he had a few in there that would probably be a good start to undoing Oberon's punishment. He'd tried with them, anyway, before he'd focused entirely on learning to fight.

Alex poked through the book and copied the best and most useful bits down into another notebook to browse through while he was at school. It might've been easier to put them on his phone—definitely less obvious than a notebook—but he'd always preferred to write magic by hand.

Maybe the delay was a good one, because it took him that long to get something that he was happy with. Spells were tricky things, and inventing your own was always a dicey proposition. Alex had done okay with Oberon because he knew exactly what he wanted to do, but undoing a spell that Oberon had cast...that was going to be more difficult. His early attempts had been okay, but none of them had felt _right_ enough. And the bits that did feel right, he didn't feel like he had enough power to execute them. 

But this one...

Alex reread the eight lines he'd scribbled in his notebook. 

_This_ one, he felt could work.

***

He found Owen before dinner the following evening. Alex couldn't remember the last time he'd been this nervous. Maybe before he had to stand in front of the class and give a presentation on _A Midsummer Night's Dream_ sophomore year, but even _that_ wasn't as nerve-wracking as this. He had the spell in his hands and kept folding and unfolding the paper. 

He had no idea how to really broach the subject. He had no idea how Owen was going to react. And he had no idea if Owen would let him do the spell and if he did, if it would even work. 

Owen was, not surprisingly, still in his office and on the phone. He glanced up when Alex entered the room and raised one eyebrow, probably wondering why Alex had just come in the door without trying to sneak in. He nodded at the chair in front of the desk, and Alex took the seat. He didn't put the spell in his pocket; he kept fidgeting with the paper, unable to put it down. Probably because he was scared if he put it away, it would vanish and he'd never be able to recreate it. 

It was another few minutes before Owen finally hung up the phone, not quite frowning but also clearly displeased with the way the call had gone. Alex hadn't been able to hear much of the other end, but it was enough to guess that Owen was dealing with ignorant people again, and Owen _really_ hated dealing with ignorant people. 

"Everything okay?" Alex asked. 

Owen closed a few files and pushed them aside. "As well as can be expected when talking to someone who doesn't understand how to read a contract. What brings you here?" 

Alex squirmed, suddenly put on the spot. "I. Uh."

He couldn't think of any way to explain, so he set the folded spell on the desk and pushed it over to Owen. 

The eyebrow went up again, and Owen picked up the paper and unfolded it. 

Alex watched him read it, searching for any sign of what he was thinking. But Owen's face was completely unreadable, and the lack of reaction stretched on until Alex couldn't take it anymore. 

"I think I can do it," he blurted out. "I mean. You always told me it's just as much about what feels right as it is the words you say, and this is what feels right. But it's only—I won't do it if you don't want me do." 

This whole thing had started because Oberon had forced a punishment that Owen didn't deserve. No matter how much he wanted to fix it, Alex wasn't going to without Owen's permission. 

Owen set the spell on the desk, pushing it away from him with one finger. "You came up with a spell." 

"Yeah." Alex fidgeted with his fingers, and clenched his fists to stop. "I know you've told me that it's impossible to remove curses like this if you're not the original caster, but—" 

"Alexander, until four weeks ago, I would have said it was impossible for anyone to best Oberon, let alone a sixteen-year-old boy who hasn't even had two decades of magical training." Owen finally looked up at him. "'There are more things in heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.' Or mine, apparently." 

Alex managed a weak smile. "We Xanatoses keep surprising you, huh?" 

At that, Owen smiled as well. "You all are many things, but never dull." 

For some reason, that went a longer way to calming his nerves than anything else. Alex cleared his throat. "Do you want me to try it?" 

Owen looked down at the spell and didn't say anything for long enough that Alex was convinced the answer would be _no_. 

"Well," Owen finally said, "you did go to all the trouble. You may as well try." 

Alex took the spell back. He didn't really need the words; he had them memorized at this point, but he'd had the paper with him so long that he felt safer casting the spell with it. 

It was _going_ to work. He took a deep breath and recited the spell. 

_A punishment so undeserved  
Shall be undone with these few words  
Your power returns at full might  
No longer bound by jealous spite  
Your banishment does not exist  
So go back home whene'er you wish  
A spell unmade, so mote it be  
The choice is yours; let Puck be free  
_  
The magic poured out of him, a hazy green glow he saw even with his eyes closed. He sagged in the chair, suddenly exhausted; maybe he'd been a _tad_ optimistic about how quickly he'd recovered. 

He shook it off and opened his eyes. "Did it work?" 

Owen flexed his fingers, and then the corners of his lips turned down. "I'm afraid not." 

"What?!" Alex jumped to his feet, which was a bad idea, and he dropped immediately back into the chair. "How could it not—" He unfolded the spell again and reread it, trying to figure out where he'd gone wrong. "Did I mess it up? Did I—" 

Owen came around the desk and took the paper out of his hands. "You did not mess it up, Alexander. You did it perfectly." 

"But," Alex's throat was getting tight and it was hard to talk without his voice shaking, "but it didn't work." 

Owen set his hand on Alex's shoulder. "Oberon's magic is strong, and it's much harder to break a curse than to cast it." 

Alex wasn't going to cry. He _wasn't_. Even though he'd been working on this since he was thirteen, even though he'd been trying to fix it so that Owen had a _choice_ again, and even though he'd been strong enough to beat Oberon he wasn't strong enough to do this. He wasn't strong enough to do the _important_ thing. 

He swiped at his eyes. "I'm sorry." 

"It's all right," Owen said quietly. "I told you once, I would not trade this life for anything. Limitations or not. My only regret is how much it distresses you. I am sorry that I cannot be all that you would like me to be." 

Alex jerked his head up. "What?! What are you talking about?" 

Owen stood back stiffly. "I know that you prefer it when I am Puck, but—" 

Alex jumped to his feet. "What? No! I don't care if you stay Owen all the time. I care that you can't choose it." 

Yeah, Owen had _said_ that he'd have picked this life even if he'd known about Oberon's punishment beforehand, but that didn't change the fact that it hadn't happened that way. _That's_ what pissed Alex off. 

Owen's face did something complicated, and then he turned away and cleared his throat. "Well, I suppose it is a moot point now. For what it's worth, Alexander, I appreciate that you tried." 

Alex stood up and threw his arms around Owen. "I'm sorry it didn't work," he said again. 

After a moment's delay, Owen hugged Alex back. "I am, too. And now I believe we need to find our way to the dining room. It's time for dinner and your father _will_ be irritated if we're late." 

Alex laughed weakly and rubbed his eyes again. "He never gets angry at you." 

Owen scoffed. "If only that were true." 

He pulled away, and Alex followed him out of the office and down the hall to the dining room. 

He was, admittedly, not used to disappointment. But this disappointment was a thousand times worse for one big reason: he'd been trying to help Owen. And he wasn't strong enough to do it. 

And no matter what Owen said, Alex wasn't going to be able to let that go so easily.

***

Alex did his best to contain his disappointment during dinner, although he was pretty sure Mom and Dad could tell something was wrong. Owen didn't say anything, though, and _Alex_ wasn't going to say anything right now, so he just picked at his pasta and listened to his parents talk and wished he'd punched Oberon harder. 

Suddenly, the parmesan cheese flew across the table right into Owen's hand. 

Alex startled. "What the—" 

Dad paused with a bite of pasta halfway to his mouth. "Alex, you know the rules about magic at the dinner table." 

"That wasn't me!" Alex protested. 

Owen was staring at the cheese in disbelief. "No, sir. I believe that was actually...me." 

Dad dropped his fork, and Mom nearly fumbled the bottle of wine she was pouring. 

Alex jumped on his feet, vibrating out of his skin. "You just used magic." 

"It would appear so," Owen said. 

"We're not training." It was stating the obvious, but Alex felt compelled to point it out. 

At that, Owen gave him a small smile. "No. We are not." 

Mom set the wine on the table. "Someone want to let us in on what's going on?" 

"Alexander attempted a spell to undo Oberon's punishment," Owen said. "I originally thought it didn't work, but it appears I was mistaken. It may be that the spell merely needs more time." 

Dad stared at Owen. "I thought that was supposed to be impossible." 

"Undoing a spell is supposed to be impossible?" Mom asked. 

"Undoing a curse when you're not the original caster." Alex was resisting the urge to do something ridiculous, like start dancing on the table, just in case the spell saw him and decided to wreak some karmic comeuppance by failing entirely. 

Owen set the cheese on the table and tapped the side of the container. "Alexander is very rapidly redefining what is and isn't possible."

"Hell _yeah_ I am." Okay, Alex was allowed a _tiny_ bit of gloating. "Can you do any more magic?" 

Owen shook his head. "No. It seems that was the limit for now." 

"But you _did_ ," Alex said. "Which means you might be able to do more. After more time's passed." 

Owen nodded. "We'll have to see, but that may be the case."

Alex was grinning like a _loon_. 

Dad rested his chin in his hand. "I'm not sure if this is cause for celebration or just cautious optimism." 

"I believe the latter will be more prudent, sir," Owen said. "It's just as likely that will be the only incident." 

Mom poured another glass of wine. "Or it might be the first of many." 

"Perhaps," Owen said. "I'm sure you'll understand why I'd prefer not to get my hopes up." 

Dad hit the table with the palm of his hand. "Cautious optimism it is. I think that means ice cream for dessert. We'll save the cake and champagne for when it's a celebration." 

"Thank you, sir." Owen picked up his silverware. "Now sit down, Alexander, and finish your dinner." 

Alex didn't want to sit down. Alex wanted to go running to the highest tower of the castle and shout it as loud as he could, wanted to find Oberon wherever he'd ended up and rub it in his _stupid face._

But he wasn't going to do that, because he was mature. Also because he _really_ didn't want the spell to fail just to spite him.

Cautious optimism, Dad had said. Alex would go with cautious optimism. 

Cautious optimism and a very small, tiny, _microscopic_ bit of internal gloating. He was redefining what was possible, after all. 

And Oberon could _suck it._


	15. The Parent-Teacher Conference

_October 2011  
_  
Lana sat back in her chair and sighed, taking the brief moment of quiet to close her eyes and rub her neck. Parent-teacher conference days were always long and _always_ stressful, and today had been no different. Thank God she only had one meeting left. 

She flipped through her appointment book to remind herself of who it was and nearly choked when she saw the name. 

_Xanatos_. 

Alex Xanatos was a decent kid. Great student, utterly fearless, and he took absolutely no shit from anybody, which had earned him a label of "troublemaker" from other teachers, but Lana privately thought that was because Mr. Johnson didn't like being corrected on historical facts in front of the entire class. Alex was absolutely enamored with Shakespeare, which was rare in teenagers in general and rarer still in teenage boys, and it was half the reason she was looking forward to meeting his parents. 

The other half of the reason, well. 

Like everybody else in the city, Lana knew _of_ David Xanatos and his wife, Fox, but she'd never met them. They were not the only wealthy family attending the school, but they were the only family where both parents were famous _and_ ex-convicts, the only family to live in a literal _castle_ on top of a skyscraper, and the only family with a gargoyle clan in their home. She'd caught just enough of Alex's anecdotes that it had _desperately_ piqued her interest about his home life, and she was dying with curiosity to find out what his parents were like. 

Lana tried not to let her hopes get too high. Fox and David Xanatos were very busy people. It was likely she'd only meet one tonight, if they didn't send an assistant or something like other parents often did. 

She pulled out her notes about Alex and the report that she wanted to show them, and had just started the internal debate of if she had enough time to grab a snack and a drink from the vending machines when someone knocked on the door. 

Lana stood up and turned to see Fox Xanatos standing in the doorway. That red hair and blue tattoo were unmistakable.

She was unfairly gorgeous, fit, somehow managing to make jeans and a sweater look glamorous. She looked almost exactly as she had back when _The Pack_ was airing, and suddenly Lana was nine years old again and having Realizations about herself while watching Fox flip ninjas over her back. 

Fox stepped into the room. "Are you Ms. Young?" 

Wow, her voice was devastatingly sexy and Lana was suddenly terrified that she was going to make an absolute fool of herself. She walked over and held out her hand. "Yes! Yes, I'm Lana Young. You must be F—Alex's mother."

Fox grinned and shook her hand. "Fox Xanatos. Very nice to meet you. Alex really loves your class." 

Lana's face heated, and she hoped the classroom light was bad enough that it wasn't obvious how hard she was blushing. "Well, that's wonderful to hear. He's great to have in class." She gestured to the two seats in front of her desk. "Have a seat and we'll get started."

"Oh, do you have another chair?" Fox asked. "We'll need three." 

Lana stopped and turned. "Three? Who else is—"

"David and Owen will be here shortly." Fox held up her phone. "They got stuck in traffic." 

Lana's brain jumped straight past the fact that _David Xanatos_ was going to be in her classroom and got stuck on Owen _._ Who in the world was Owen? 

She recalled Alex mentioning someone named Owen a few times, but from the way he talked she assumed he was Alex's tutor or something. Not someone who'd be attending a parent-teacher conference. 

Lana grabbed a chair from the stack shoved up against the wall and pulled it over beside the others, and took her own seat behind the desk. 

Fox tossed her hair over her shoulder and sat in one of the chairs. "You seemed surprised that I'm not alone." 

Lana waved a hand. "Well, usually I only get one parent here. I hardly ever meet both, and there are some who just send an assistant. I don't think I've ever had _three_ people attend a parent-teacher conference."

Fox smiled. "We decided long ago that when it came to Alex's schooling, we were _all_ going to be involved. No matter what." 

"Well, that's admirable of you," Lana said. "It's really nice to see such supportive parents." 

Fox's smile dimmed. "We nearly lost Alex when he was a baby. Let me tell you, nothing clarifies your priorities faster." 

"Oh." Wow, Lana had had no idea; Alex was a perfectly healthy kid. Then again, you never really knew, did you? "I'm so sorry to hear that. My oldest niece was a preemie and spent four months in NICU. It's so hard to go through that."

Fox gave a tight smile, and Lana had the feeling that she'd overstepped somehow. 

The door opened, and Lana jumped out of her seat and nearly out of her skin. 

Mr. Xanatos strode into the room, his face thunderous, and Lana was instantly terrified even though he had no reason to be angry at her. The look on his face softened the moment he set eyes on Fox, and he crossed to her and kissed her temple. "Sorry we're late. Traffic, you know." 

Fox arched an eyebrow. "Mm-hmm." She gestured to Lana. "David, this is Ms. Young, Alex's English teacher." 

Mr. Xanatos turned to her and held out his hand. "Ms. Young. I do apologize. I hope we didn't keep you waiting long." 

Lana shook her head and then, belatedly, remembered to shake his hand. "No, not long at all. F—Mrs. Xanatos has only been here a few minutes." 

Fox laughed throatily. "Oh, you can call me Fox, that's fine." 

Lana's cheeks flamed. "So, where is our third?" 

"Right here, Ms. Young," a new voice said.

Lana jumped _again_ , and she wasn't sure what it said about her that this family in particular kept catching her unaware. A tall blond man stepped up beside Mr. Xanatos, and Lana had to wonder how in the hell she'd missed _him_ coming into her classroom. It wasn't like he was inconspicuous. 

"Oh!" She reached out to shake his hand. "I'm sorry, Mr.—?"

"Burnett," he supplied, and took her hand. "Owen Burnett, Mr. Xanatos's assis—"

"Partner," Mr. Xanatos cut in with a charming smile. 

Mr. Burnett gave him a flat look and a longsuffering sigh in return. 

Lana didn't really have a clue what to do with that. 

"Oh, ignore them, they've been arguing about that for fifteen years and aren't going to stop now," Fox said with a wave of her hand. "You two should have a seat. We don't want to take up any more of Ms. Young's valuable time." 

"That's all right!" Lana said quickly. "You're my last group for the day."

"All the more reason for us to be brief." Mr. Burnett took a seat, leaving the middle chair open for Mr. Xanatos. "I imagine you're ready to get home." 

She was, but she was also looking more forward to this particular meeting now than she had _any_ of the others. "It's fine," Lana said again, but she sat back down behind the desk. 

"No, they're right. We won't keep you any longer than we have to." Mr. Xanatos finally sat down. "So how is Alex doing?" 

Lana pulled out her notes. "Well, Alex is an exceptional student. Straight A's in every single one of his classes and all of his other teachers say he's an absolute pleasure. He's never turned in a late homework assignment and he's the only kid I haven't had to reprimand for playing on his phone during class." 

Mr. Xanatos rubbed the edge of his beard with his thumb. "That's good to hear." 

" _All_ of his other teachers?" Mr. Burnett asked dubiously. 

Lana hesitated, thinking back over some of Mr. Johnson's rants in the teacher's lounge. "Pretty much all of them, yes." 

Mr. Xanatos sighed. "What's his history teacher say?" 

Lana stared at him. "How did you—" 

"Like I told you, we've all three been at parent-teacher conferences since Alex started school," Fox said. "Ten years of education and ten years of history teachers _really_ hating to be corrected in front of the entire class." 

"Alexander has many strengths," Mr. Burnett said. "Tact is, unfortunately, not one of them."

Fox gave Lana an apologetic smile. "We've been working on that. Let's just say Alex doesn't have a lot of role models in the tact department."

Mr. Xanatos snorted. " _There's_ an understatement." 

Lana debated asking for clarification on that statement, and then decided against it. "Well, it's obvious Alex has a real passion for history and mythology. And let me tell you, I have _never_ , in the five years I've been teaching here, met a teenage boy who loves Shakespeare as much as he does." She pulled out the paper Alex had turned in a few weeks ago and handed it to Fox. "This is the report he did on _A Midsummer Night's Dream_." 

Fox took a look at the cover page. Her eyebrows immediately went up, and then she pressed her lips together, covered her mouth, and handed the report to Mr. Xanatos. 

He took the report and read the title aloud. "A Midsummer Night's Dream: Why Oberon Is a Fucking Dick and Puck Is the Real Hero of the Play." 

Mr. Burnett startled. "He did not." 

Mr. Xanatos handed him the report with a wry smile. "See for yourself." 

Fox coughed, and it sounded suspiciously like she was trying very hard not to laugh. "Of course he called it that." 

Lana had the feeling there was an inside joke here she wasn't privy to, but that wasn't too surprising. Alex's love of Shakespeare had to come from somewhere and she guessed it had to do with the three people in front of her. "Most kids I'm lucky if I can get them to look at the SparkNotes, let alone actually read the whole thing, but Alex _really_ dug into the play itself. Leaving aside the, er, colorful title, he has a totally different way of looking at this story. Which, after teaching it for five years, I can tell you I really appreciated." She shook her head, marveling at it again. She almost had the paper memorized at this point. "I mean, he's not just pulling it out of thin air. The analysis he does on the scenes, particularly the ones between Oberon and Puck, is really outstanding, and he backs up all of his assessments with the text. You all should be _very_ proud of his ability to—" 

Mr. Burnett flipped the report closed and set it on Lana's desk. "If you'll excuse me." 

He stood and was out the door before Lana could formulate a response. 

Mr. Xanatos watched him go, and then turned to Fox, who was giving him the same look Lana had given her brother at the last family dinner where their dad had said something boneheaded and her brother's fiancée had left the table in tears. 

_Go after them_ , _you idiot.  
_  
"Right," Mr. Xanatos said under his breath, and then he stood. "Excuse me, Ms. Young. I'm just going to..." __  
  
Lana gestured to the door. "Of course."

Mr. Xanatos disappeared out the door and closed it behind him. 

Lana looked over to Fox. "Was it something I said?"

Fox took the report, paging through it. "No, nothing you said or did. It's...complicated." She flipped the report closed. "You have to understand, Owen's literally Alex's favorite person on the planet. He loves me and David, don't get me wrong, but Owen's been his favorite since he was a baby." Fox glanced at the door. "Even after fifteen years, Owen still forgets that's true unless it hits him on the head." She held up the report. "This is kind of a two-by-four in that regard." 

"Oh." Lana nodded, although she wasn't sure she entirely understood. "Is Mr. Burnett part of the reason Alex enjoys the play so much?" 

Fox chuckled. "You could say that."

Well, that...sort of explained things. Lana continued, "Well, like I was saying, he—all of you, really—should be very proud of Alex's ability to think critically and analyze the text he reads. That's a skill that's going to serve him very well in life and it'll make him _very_ popular with his college professors." 

Fox smiled. "Oh, believe me, we couldn't be prouder of Alex." 

"Good." Lana slid her gaze to the door, trying to gauge if Mr. Burnett and Mr. Xanatos were going to be rejoining them anytime soon. "So, uh, should we wait until they come back before we continue?" 

Fox studied the door. "No," she said after a moment. "There's no telling how long they'll be and I'd rather not keep you." 

Lana couldn't have said why, but Fox looked...kind of sad. "I'm sorry." 

Fox shook her head and turned her attention back to Lana. "Don't be. Like I said, it's a complicated situation." She folded her hands. "So is there anything else to discuss about Alex? Anything else we need to know?" 

The change of subject couldn't have been clearer, and Lana went back to her notes. 

There wasn't much else _to_ discuss about Alex. Lana brought up a few things from the other teachers, none of which were much different from what else she'd mentioned, Fox nodded along, and in less than five minutes, they were finished. 

"Do you have any questions for me?" Lana asked. 

Fox tapped Alex's report, currently laying in her lap. "Do you mind if I take this home?" 

"Please do," Lana said, and then reconsidered. "Although, uh..." 

Fox rolled her eyes. "Don't worry about Owen. It'll do him good to read it and be _reminded_ that he's Alex's favorite person on the planet."

The last sentence was directed toward the door, and said with a tone that sounded like she expected Mr. Burnett to hear her, but Lana was pretty sure he couldn't even if he was _right_ outside the door. Classroom doors did a remarkable job blocking noise. 

"Well, it's fine either way." Lana stood up and held out her hand. "It was good to meet you, Mrs. Xanatos." 

Fox stood smoothly and grasped her hand. "Likewise, Ms. Young. I'm glad Alex has a teacher like you this year." 

Lana blushed. "Well, thank you very much. I'm glad to have a student like Alex. He's a great kid." 

Fox tossed her hair over her shoulder. "Thank you." She winked. "I might be biased, but I agree with you." 

Somewhere deep inside her chest, Lana's preteen self was absolutely losing her _mind_ over _Fox_ winking at her. She really hoped that didn't show anywhere on her face. 

Fox sashayed out the door, and Lana dropped back to her seat and thunked her head on her desk. She wasn't sure if that was the best or the worst meeting she'd had, but it was definitely going on the books as the most memorable. Between meeting her childhood crush, the terrifying figure that was David Xanatos, Mr. Burnett's strange reaction to the report, and the constant, nagging feeling that she was missing something, it had been a hell of a meeting. 

Lana started packing up her things, turning the whole encounter over in her mind. Sure, everybody had a story to them that she wasn't privy to, but there were stories and then there were _Stories_. The meeting hadn't even lasted fifteen minutes, but Lana would bet her teaching degree there was a Story there. 

She kind of hoped that one day she'd get to find out what it was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shoutout to [fauvistfly](https://twitter.com/fauvistfly/) for the beta read on this chapter. <3


	16. Chapter 16

_November 2012_

With Oberon out of the picture and Owen's magic slowly coming back, Alex's life settled back down to normal. He still went running in the mornings with Mom and sparred with her, although they scaled it back to only a couple of times a week. He still worked on the battle armor with Dad, who was beyond thrilled to have all the data from Alex's fight with Oberon and set about using that to upgrade not just Alex's armor, but his own _and_ both the Steel and Iron Clans. 

The downside was that without an upcoming fight, there was less reason for Alex to have as much magical training, especially since he'd gotten so many condensed lessons in the past three years, so he didn't get to have as much time with Puck as he had previously. 

He tried to make up for it by researching why Owen's magic was coming back the way it was. The gradual return of it was weird enough, but Owen was also using magic as a human. Before, the only thing he'd been able to do in human form was transform back into Puck. Alex didn't have a _clue_ why that was happening.

The only person who had any insight into it was Anastasia.

"You have two different spells wrestling for control," she said during a visit a few months after everything went down. "Oberon's magic is fading, as he's trapped as a human, while Alexander's is trying to assert itself." 

"That still doesn't explain why I can use magic as a mortal," Owen pointed out. "No one is able to use magic in mortal form except Lord Oberon." 

Alex rolled his eyes. 

"Did you know that, Alexander?" Anastasia asked. 

"Well, yeah, but I use magic as a mortal, and so does Oberon." Alex shrugged. "Why shouldn't Owen be able to?" 

Anastasia steepled her fingers and frowned thoughtfully. "Hm. It may be, then, that Alex's perception of magic and what's possible colored the spell." She narrowed her eyes at Alex. "You may have removed more limitations than you intended."

"I'm...sorry?" Alex said.

He didn't think he needed to be sorry, but you never knew. 

Owen didn't say anything, but his eyes held a very familiar sparkle and Alex was pretty sure, he, at least, didn't mind. 

Anastasia waved a hand dismissively and sipped her tea. "Well, what's done is done. And speaking of what's done, there's a great deal of discussion on Avalon about what to do with Oberon gone." 

She directed the last sentence at Alex, like he was somehow supposed to have an answer for that.

He shrugged. "How should I know? Whatever you guys do when you're normally on Avalon, I guess." 

Her eyes slid to Owen. "Haven't you told him about Mab?" 

Alex blinked. "Mab?" 

Owen's face went even flatter than usual. "I didn't think it was of much importance."

That didn't bode well. "Who's Mab?" Alex asked. 

"When our race first came into being, Mab was our first queen," Anastasia explained. "We were known as the Children of Mab for many thousands of years. It was not until Oberon rebelled and overthrew her that we were renamed the Children of Oberon." 

Alex was still stuck on the _many thousands of years_ part of that statement. "Whoa, when did _that_ happen?" 

Anastasia's brow furrowed. "I'm not sure, by mortal reckoning."

"Between five and six hundred," Owen said. 

Alex turned to him. "Years ago?" _That_ couldn't be right. 

"Between five and six hundred A.D.," Owen clarified. 

Alex gaped at him. "Owen...how old _are_ you?" 

Owen picked up his mug of coffee from the table beside the couch. "Technically, I was born in 1989." 

Alex glared; he knew Owen knew that wasn't what he'd meant. "How old is Puck?" 

"Oberon's Children are immortal," Owen said, again neatly dodging the question. 

"Yeah, but—" But if Oberon had overthrown Mab almost fifteen hundredyears ago, and they'd all been around _before_ then, that meant Puck and Titania were _way_ older than Alex had originally thought. And he'd known they were well over a thousand years old. 

"Ages are irrelevant," Anastasia said. "What _is_ relevant is that this is the second time in our very long history that our leader has been overthrown, and not even a full year after the Gathering has begun. And this time, it appears his successor has no intention of stepping into his rightful place." 

Owen stared at her. "You must be joking." 

She met his gaze steadily. "I don't joke, Puck." 

Alex caught on to what she meant, and he shot off the couch like it had shocked him. "Wait, _me?!_ I'm supposed to be his successor?!" 

"You did defeat him," Anastasia said. 

"Yeah, I kicked his ass because I wanted him to take his stupid unfair punishment off of Owen," Alex argued. "I didn't _overthrow_ him!" 

"You stripped him of his power and banished him from Avalon," Owen said quietly. "For all intents and purposes, yes, you did." 

Alex boggled at both of them. "That's insane! I can't take over. I'm sixteen! I haven't even graduated high school yet! I can't rule over you guys. I don't _want_ to," he added, because really, that was more important than his ability to, even if he was pretty sure Anastasia cared more about the former. 

"You don't have to," Owen assured him. 

Anastasia set down her tea. "That remains to be seen." 

Owen stood and put his hand on Alex's shoulder. "Alexander may have defeated Oberon, yes, but you forget that he is mortal. It is unlikely the others will accept him in the role for that alone, leaving aside his age. And as he has already stated, he doesn't want the job." 

That was Owen's business tone, the one he used on conference calls and in meetings with people who hadn't realized that they'd come up on a non-negotiable part of a contract. Alex was _absurdly_ relieved to hear it used for this. 

Anastasia stood. "Then you are leaving us in an untenable situation." 

"No," Owen snapped. "This situation is entirely of your own making and it is not Alexander's responsibility to fix it." 

Anastasia blinked at him, clearly taken aback. Shit, _Alex_ was taken aback; he'd never heard Owen lose his temper with anybody, let alone Anastasia. 

Owen's grip on Alex tightened. "You are the one who took a mortal form and married Halcyon Renard. You are the one who bore a child and chose never to tell Fox the truth about who you were, who she was, and where she came from. You are the one who came to the Eyrie Building with the full intention of taking Alexander back to Avalon, with or without his parents' knowledge or permission." Owen's voice was colder than Alex had ever heard it. "You taught your daughter nothing of magic, and the one time she was able to use it— and use enough of it to hurt Oberon—was when she was protecting her family. How the _hell_ can you be surprised that her son did more, when your entire goal from the beginning was that he be _able_ to do more?" 

Anastasia's expression did not change, but Alex could tell she was _pissed_. " _This_ was not my intention." 

Owen didn't budge. "Nevertheless, it is the impact of your actions."

The hair on the back of Alex's neck stood up, in a way that meant a _lot_ of magic was about to be used, and he stepped between Owen and Anastasia before she could bring down holy hell in the middle of the castle library. "Look, why don't _you_ take over?" he said to Anastasia. "You're about as powerful as Oberon and Children of Titania sounds way better than Children of Alexander. Besides, you're still married to Oberon. Nobody can argue with you ruling in his place for five hundred years. Especially since that's only, what, twenty years on Avalon? Twenty-one?" 

Anastasia turned to him, clearly surprised. "You would cede your rightful place to me?" 

"My rightful place is _here_." Alex spread his arms to encompass the castle. "In New York, with my family. I don't belong on Avalon. I never have. Besides, if for some reason I ever want that role, all I've got to do is beat _you_ , right?"

He wasn't sure if he could call the look on her face a smile or a smirk. "Perhaps." Anastasia picked up her purse. "I suppose I should get back and let the others know what you've decided." She glanced from Alex to Owen. "Please keep me apprised of how your spell turns out. I can already see it's having very interesting consequences." 

With that, she waved a hand and vanished. 

Alex scratched the back of his head. "Consequences? What is she—" 

He turned to Owen and saw that his ears were six inches longer and _way_ pointier than they normally were in this form. 

Owen frowned at him. "What?" he asked in Puck's voice, and then blinked. " _What_." 

"Uh." Alex tapped the tip of his own ear. "That's not the only thing."

Owen reached up to touch his ears, and his eyes widened briefly before he sighed and took off his glasses. "Well, I wondered why these things suddenly weren't doing any good." 

Alex stared. He couldn't help it; he'd _never_ seen Owen halfway between forms. Or was he Puck now? "When did you start to change?" 

"Must've been when Anastasia looked like she was going to attack." He raised an eyebrow at Alex. "Must've stopped when you jumped between us." 

"Heh." Alex rubbed the back of his neck. "Can you shift back?" 

Puck scowled. "No." 

Alex winced. "Sorry?" 

Puck shrugged and put the glasses in his pocket. "Ah well. I guess it was bound to happen sooner or later. Although if it doesn't work itself out by tomorrow, I'm going to have to call in sick." He touched his ears again. "Too bad it isn't Halloween. I don't think I could come up with another explanation for these." 

Alex prodded his arm. "No, you don't _need_ an explanation! Just go to work like that and act like _absolutely nothing's different_. It'll be hilarious. Nobody will know what to do. And it'll be even funnier when you can shift all the way back to Owen and _still_ act like nothing's been weird." 

Puck gave him a look that wavered somewhere on the border between irritated and absurdly proud. "When did _you_ get to be so crafty, huh?" 

Alex grinned. "I had a really good teacher."

***

_March 2013  
_  
The holidays came and went, along with winter break, and Alex started both the second semester of his junior year and seriously looking at colleges. Mom, Dad, and Owen were encouraging him to look wherever he wanted—literally, anywhere in the world; it wasn't like money was going to be a problem—but Alex kept going between NYU and Columbia. There were really good reasons to pick them—they were both private research universities, super exclusive and rigorous, and Columbia was an Ivy League school—but there was one big reason Alex was stuck on those two. 

He didn't want to move away.

Yeah, lots of kids in his class were excitedly talking about going to school elsewhere and living away from home for the first time, but Alex just...didn't want to. Not because he was worried about living by himself or anything—he was pretty sure he could handle _that_ —but because he didn't want to leave his family for _four years_. Sure, he'd go live in the dorms, but he hated the idea of being more than a short drive away. Of being in a different city or a different _country_ from Mom and Dad and Owen and the clan. 

His teachers were going on about them spreading their wings. If Alex wanted to spread his wings, he'd go to the tallest tower in the castle and turn into an eagle. He'd told Anastasia weeks ago that his place was here, and looking for colleges was only reinforcing that idea. 

His parents kept telling him to look, though, so Alex obediently kept the brochures and spread them out occasionally for appearance's sake, when in reality he was already halfway through the applications for NYU and Columbia. 

But he couldn't spend all his free time thinking about college, because he still had a year and a half of high school left to get through. Classwork ramped up as teachers prepared them to take their ACTs and SATs and it was strongly suggested that they also take as many extracurriculars as possible. Alex found out the drama department was doing _A Midsummer Night's Dream_ for the spring play and couldn't resist trying out. He ended up getting cast in the dual role of Theseus and Oberon, which his entire family found _hilarious_. 

Everything was going so well, really, that Alex probably should've been waiting for the other shoe to drop. But he wasn't, and so the kidnapping took him by complete surprise.

***

Alex came to in a windowless room that smelled like week-old gym socks, with his hands and feet bound and the only light coming from a few ancient, grimy bulbs. Water dripped steadily into a puddle behind him. Either he was underground or this place had really shitty plumbing. 

He scanned the room. He wasn't alone; he counted three guys with guns sitting around a card table not far away, two of them cleaning said guns while the third was dicking off on his phone. There was only one door, large and wooden and very locked. 

Well, he could take care of that. First things first, though, he had to get himself free. 

Alex closed his eyes, focused, and whispered a spell under his breath. 

Nothing happened. 

He tried the spell again.

Nada. Zip. Zilch. Alex couldn't even _feel_ his magic the way he normally could. It was like there was a solid wall between it and him. 

_Shit_. 

Someone banged on the door, and the guy at the table put his phone down and hauled the door open. "Took you long enough. Did you deliver the message?" 

"Yeah, yeah, I delivered it." The guy just coming in shrugged out of a coat dripping with water. Alex wondered if it was raining outside. "I still don't like it, though."

The guy who'd opened the door thumped the newbie on the back. "Harry, you think too much. This kid's easy money. His folks'll pay four times what the other guy will." 

_Other guy?_ Alex froze. Shit, had someone _hired_ them to kidnap him? He'd assumed it was just to get ransom from his dad, but apparently not. 

Harry tossed his wet coat to the floor. "Assuming they pay, and don't just send the gargoyles after us." 

The first guy waved off the concern. "That's why we're having the exchange during the _day_. Can't have gargoyles around if they're all stone statues!" 

He laughed like it was a really hilarious joke. 

Harry shook his head. "I got a bad feeling about this, Ricky. You heard what the guy said about the kid, about—" 

"The guy said as long as we've got him in iron cuffs, the kid isn't a problem." The first guy—Ricky—waved back at Alex. "And see? He ain't been a problem yet."

"He's also not _awake_ ," Harry said. 

Alex decided to let them keep thinking that. 

Every word out of their mouths confirmed he was in even more trouble than he'd thought. They'd known to worry about the gargoyles. They'd known to put him in iron to keep him from using magic. Nobody outside of his family knew Alex could use magic, and _none_ of them would do this, not even Anastasia. 

It hit him like a brick to the head. Anastasia wouldn't, but Oberon _would_. Oberon, who knew exactly what Alex was capable of and who was somewhere on Earth with a hell of a chip on his shoulder. 

Double shit. 

He had no idea what Oberon would _do_ to him once he'd gotten ahold of him, but Alex was pretty sure he didn't want to know the answer to that question. Besides, they were trying to ransom him _first_ , and they had guns, _and_ they seemed like the type who would be happy to shoot first and ask questions later if Dad didn't give them exactly what they wanted. 

Alex struggled against the cuffs as quietly as he could. Damn it, he should've paid more attention to Aunt Elisa when she was showing him how to get out of handcuffs. But he'd thought he'd always have his magic. 

Stupid, stupid, _stupid_. 

He wasn't sure how much longer he lay there when he heard a phone beep at the table, and Ricky picked it up. "Well, whaddaya know. Looks like our ransom's here." He stood up and shoved the phone in his pocket. "You two, get the kid. Xanatos probably won't give us the money until he sees he's okay." 

"You sure it's gonna be Xanatos?" one of the guys who wasn't Harry asked. 

Ricky holstered his guns. "We told him to come himself and _by_ himself. If he didn't listen..." He shrugged. "Can't be held accountable for what happens then now, can we?" 

The pit of Alex's stomach turned to ice. 

Not!Harry One and Not!Harry Two trudged over to grab Alex off the floor. Alex stayed limp and boneless, resisting the urge to brace himself against any jostling. The longer they didn't know he was awake, the more likely they'd be to keep talking in front of him. And, you know. If he didn't have magic, he could at least have the element of surprise. 

They dragged him out of the little room and through a tunnel, then up a rickety staircase that Alex was ninety percent sure would cave underneath the muddy boots his kidnappers were wearing. He tried to gauge how far the tunnel went, but he couldn't examine much while he was pretending to be out cold. 

They emerged in a decrepit courtyard, surrounded on all fours by a stone mansion that had probably looked pretty awesome back in the day, but now just looked dark and foreboding. None of that was helped by the heavy clouds and drizzle overhead. 

The two Not!Harrys dropped Alex just inside an alcove out of the rain while Ricky and Harry went to a gazebo in the center of the courtyard. The stone was damp and cold; Alex wrinkled his nose and had to fight the desire to roll over. At least they'd dropped him where he could see what was going on. 

Alex wasn't sure what he was hoping for. Dad showing up in his armor, Dad showing up with Aunt Elisa and half the NYPD in tow, _Mom_ showing up with her much bigger gun—

Instead, it was Owen striding across the courtyard to the gazebo, a briefcase in hand. 

Either Ricky or Harry—Alex couldn't see who from this angle—pulled a gun. "You ain't Xanatos." 

"No," Owen said. "I'm Owen Burnett, Mr. Xanatos's assistant." 

_Partner_ , Alex's brain immediately supplied, a function of hearing his dad's response to that introduction regularly for his entire life.

"We asked for Xanatos," Ricky-or-Harry said.

"Mr. Xanatos is an extremely busy man, so you have me," Owen said. "It's very nearly the same thing, I assure you. Where is Alexander?" 

"Nah, it ain't the same thing." The gun-wielder aimed higher. "Besides, our employer told us to be on the lookout for a blond guy with glasses. Seemed to think he was dangerous." 

"Your employer?" Owen asked conversationally. 

Okay, probably time to stop pretending to be unconscious. Alex rolled away from the Not!Harrys and shouted, "Oberon, Owen! They're working for Oberon!"

Owen turned toward him, and then a gunshot cracked across the courtyard. For a moment, everything seemed to freeze. 

And then Owen fell. 

" _Owen!_ " Alex screamed. 

He struggled to crawl across the courtyard, fighting to free his hands and feet so he could use his magic, so he could teleport to Owen, so he could _fix this_ before—

Someone grabbed him and hauled him up, and Alex fought them, whipping his legs back and forth to get them to let him _go_. 

"Man, get the kid, get the—" 

Alex slammed his head back as hard as he could, right into the speaker's face. He saw stars, but the guy swore and dropped him to the ground. It hurt, objectively, but Alex didn't care. He had to get to Owen. He had to make sure Owen was okay. 

"My nose! He broke my fucking nose!" 

"Grab him, we gotta go! Drug the little bastard again if you have to." 

Alex had only made it a few more feet when someone jabbed him with something sharp right in his ass, and then they picked him up again. He shouted and fought with everything he had and wished so fiercely that he could break the cuffs and use his magic he half-thought he'd be able to do it through the strength of his willpower alone. 

But it didn't happen, and then his vision got blurry and his limbs got heavier and struggling felt like swimming through peanut butter. The kidnappers were dragging him away from Owen, who was still lying on the ground by the gazebo and wasn't getting up. 

Alex tried to yell at them to go back, because they couldn't just leave Owen out there alone, but then they dragged him back into the tunnels and closed the door and Alex couldn't see him anymore.


	17. Real-Life Heroes

_April 2001_

Margaret walked around the room, examining the drawings the four-year-olds were doing. She always enjoyed getting to see what they came up with for this prompt. "Real life heroes" inevitably netted a lot of police officers, firefighters, doctors, and paramedics, but she also saw a lot of the silly ("the ice cream man!") and the sweet ("my big sister"). 

She reached the back table, where Alex and Marcus were both bent over their own drawings, scribbling up a storm. Margaret leaned over Marcus first, where he'd drawn two women holding hands. "Oh, that's a lovely drawing. Can you tell me about it, Marcus?" 

"It's Nana and Gigi," Marcus said. "Daddy says they're heroes, but he can't tell me why until I'm bigger. I don't know if they're heroes, but they make really good cookies."

That was a story Margaret would dearly love to hear. Maybe she'd ask Marcus's father about it the next time she saw him "Well, making really good cookies is certainly a type of heroism." She inclined her head to look over at Alex's paper, which was covered with stick figures. "Wow, Alex, you've drawn a lot!" 

"Yeah," Alex said, and he didn't look up from where he was carefully drawing green wings on a stick figure. 

Margaret's initial response was to remind him that she had said _real_ heroes, but bit her tongue. She shouldn't assume. "Can you tell me about what you're drawing?" 

"Uh-huh." Alex stopped and pointed to the one he'd been coloring. "This is Lex! He's my big brother and he's really smart." 

Oh, it was one of the gargoyles. Margaret pressed her lips together so she wouldn't make a comment that Alex might repeat to his parents. She had to remind herself that he had grown up with them in his house, so obviously that was normal for him. "That's nice. Who else do you have on your paper?" 

Alex pointed at each of the other stick figures in turn. "Daddy, Mommy, Aunt Elisa, and Puck!" 

Margaret sighed. "It's a wonderful picture, Alex, but you're supposed to draw your real-life heroes. Puck isn't real." 

Alex frowned up at her. "Yes, he is." 

"Puck is a character from a play," Margaret said as gently as she could. "Not a real person." 

The frown intensified into an actual glower, which was not an expression Margaret often saw on a four-year-old. Alex seemed to vibrate with it for several seconds, and then he grabbed a yellow crayon and scribbled over Puck's hair, and then grabbed a black one to draw crude glasses. "There. _Owen_." 

Margaret sighed again, but this time internally. She really needed to have a talk with his parents. She was used to kids having imaginary friends, but this wasn't the first time Alex had insisted Puck was real. 

She congratulated him on the drawing and moved to check on the rest of the class.

***

Alex's mother was the one to come and pick him up that afternoon. That had always surprised Margaret; many parents of the same means as Alex's had a nanny or a sitter pick their kids up at school, but Alex always had one of three people come for him: his mother, his father, or Mr. Burnett, Mr. Xanatos's personal assistant. Margaret raised her eyebrows a bit at that last one—by all appearances, Mr. Burnett lived with them, and that couldn't be a healthy situation for Alex—but the Xanatos's personal lives were none of her business. 

Alex's continuing inability to distinguish between fiction and reality, on the other hand, was. 

Margaret caught Mrs. Xanatos just after she'd picked up Alex. "Mrs. Xanatos, can I speak with you for a moment?" 

Mrs. Xanatos looked between her and Alex, who wore an absolutely thunderous expression. "Sure, we can talk. Alex, kiddo, why don't you go play on the playground while I talk to Mrs. Riley?" 

Alex handed her his backpack and took off like a shot for the swing set. 

Mrs. Xanatos watched him until he was swinging, and then turned back to Margaret. "So what's wrong? Did Alex do something in class?" 

"Well, it's just..." Margaret considered how to phrase the question. "Don't you think he's a little young for _A Midsummer Night's Dream_?" 

Mrs. Xanatos blinked. "I'm sorry?" 

Margaret forged ahead. "I'm concerned about Alex's ability to distinguish fact from fiction. The children drew their real-life heroes today, and one of the people Alex drew was Puck. I had to remind Alex that Puck isn't real. He's a character in a play. And this isn't the first time this year we've had a conversation like that." 

Mrs. Xanatos's eyes went wide. "Oh no." 

Good, Mrs. Xanatos seemed to grasp the severity of the situation. "Lots of children have imaginary friends, of course," Margaret said, trying to soften the blow, "and it's perfectly harmless, but I've never had a child with an imaginary friend from a Shakespeare play and certainly not one who's so insistent that his imaginary friend is real."

"Uh-huh." Mrs. Xanatos nodded. "Well, I can promise you, David and I will definitely have a talk with him about that. Probably should have before now, in all honesty." 

"Oh! Well, very good." Margaret hadn't expected her to agree so readily; that was a pleasant surprise. "He's a very smart boy and a joy to have in class. But I would have felt remiss in my duties as his teacher if I hadn't let you know." 

"I completely understand." Mrs. Xanatos cupped the side of her mouth and called, "Alex! Come on, let's get in the car!" 

Alex jumped off the swings and ran over, his expression no less furious than it had been when he'd run off. "Mommy, Mrs. Riley said—" 

Mrs. Xanatos crouched down and gave him his backpack. "I know what Mrs. Riley said, kiddo, and I promise we're going to talk about it at home. We'll pick up ice cream on the way, okay?" 

That didn't do anything to lessen Alex's stormy expression, but he nodded minutely. 

Mrs. Xanatos stood back up. "Okay. Thank you again, Mrs. Riley, and have a great weekend!" 

"Oh, you—" Margaret started, but Mrs. Xanatos was already hauling Alex across the parking lot and out of earshot. "Too?" 

Well, that had gone much more smoothly than Margaret had anticipated. Typically parents didn't want to hear that their child might not be absolutely perfect, but Mrs. Xanatos seemed to be more grounded than many others. The conversations Margaret had had earlier this year with Mr. Xanatos and Mr. Burnett had led her to believe that Mrs. Xanatos might not be. Alex _was_ a good kid, but he really needed to learn to control both his temper and his imagination. 

She worried for whoever had him in kindergarten next year. They'd definitely have their hands full.


	18. Chapter 18

_March 2013  
_  
Harry had known from the moment he and Ricky met up with the weird guy at the diner that this job was going to be bad news, and everything that had happened since then had only made the feeling worse. Stealing stuff was one thing. Stealing someone's kid? That was something else. Especially when that "someone" was a billionaire with a shit-ton of weaponry and a clan of gargoyles in his house, and that was just the stuff the public knew about. 

Harry didn't consider himself superstitious, not particularly, but even he knew you didn't pick fights with a guy like that. Some shit just wasn't worth it.

Ricky didn't think about that. Ricky was just thinking about the dollar signs. 

And now a guy was _dead_ , and if they got caught, they were all going away for a _really_ long time. 

Sam and Bart handed the kid off to him as soon as they were in the tunnel, Sam with his hand still over his bloody nose. Harry grumbled about dragging the kid's dead weight around; he wasn't sure this was much easier than having him flailing all over the place. 

Harry grunted. "Bart, get back here and give me a hand with—" He walked straight into Sam's back. "What the hell?" 

"The tunnel's got a fork," Sam said.

Harry frowned. "The tunnel's never had a fork." 

Sam pointed with his flashlight. "It's got one now." 

Harry peered around him. The tunnel was supposed to be a straight shot from the house to the woods, where they had the van stashed. But right now, it split off into two identical tunnels, one curving off to the left and the other veering right. 

"Well that's damned unsettling," Harry said. 

"Ah, quit your whining." Ricky stomped over to them. "You idiots just don't remember how the tunnels went. Come on, let's take the right one." 

"I remember it didn't have _forks_ ," Harry muttered, but he followed Ricky and the others anyway. 

Ricky moved at the same pace, but Sam and Bart were walking slower now. Harry, too, and it didn't have as much to do with the kid's weight as he'd claim if anybody asked. No matter what Ricky said, the tunnel _hadn't_ had any forks. And the prickles on the back of Harry's neck told him that the weird stuff wasn't finished just yet. 

Not two minutes later, a noise drifted through the tunnel that sounded a hell of a lot like laughter. 

Sam stopped and swept the flashlight around behind them. "What was that?" 

"Nothing!" Ricky called back. "Keep moving. You chickens are just hearing things." 

The laughter echoed in the tunnel again, louder this time. It sounded mean. 

Bart shook his head. "It ain't hearing things if we're all hearing it." 

Ricky swung around and aimed the flashlight at them. "It's just wind moving through the tunnels or something. It only _sounds_ like something else. Now quit jumping at every little thing and let's move. We don't want to be anywhere near that house when the body's found."

Harry winced at the reminder. 

Bart grabbed the kid's other arm and they shuffled down the tunnel, moving faster than they had been. Harry was still jumping at every little noise, but from the way Sam and Bart kept flinching, he guessed he wasn't the only one. 

The laughter started up again. 

_Just wind_ , Harry told himself. _Just wind...in a tunnel...underground..._

Then the laughter stopped. 

Harry stayed tense for a few seconds, waiting to see if it would start up again. When it didn't, he let out a quiet sigh of relief. 

The voice started singing. 

_"The itsy-bitsy spider came up the water spout...down came the rain and washed the spider out..."  
_  
Bart screamed and dropped the kid, swiping at himself like he was trying to get things off him. "SPIDERS!" 

Harry looked around. "Where?!" 

"Everywhere!" Bart kept swiping at himself. "They're all over me!"

"Nothing's on you!" Sam shouted.

Harry readjusted his grip on the kid. "What in the _hell_ is going on?" 

Bart ran down the tunnel, stripping off his clothes and screaming the whole way. "Get 'em off me! _Get 'em off!_ "

"Bart!" Harry yelled, but Bart was gone, his shouts disappearing into the distance. 

"Leave him," Ricky ordered. "Sam, help Harry with the kid. We're almost there."

Sam glared at him, but he took the kid's arm. "We should've been there already."

Ricky didn't look back at them. "Shut up and keep moving."

They did. But now Harry had the unsettling feeling that they weren't just running _to_ the van. They were running away from something. And that something didn't seem too worried about whether they were gonna catch them. 

The tunnel forked again when it shouldn't have. This time, Sam and Harry didn't comment on it; they just waited for Ricky to pick a fork and followed him. Not that it mattered which way they went, Harry thought. He was beginning to think they weren't going to make it to the van. 

The creepy laughter started again just a few minutes down the tunnel. Sam actually whimpered. 

Harry had no idea what was about to happen, but he knew damn well that laughter didn't mean anything good for them. "We should go back. Turn ourselves in and give the kid back to his parents. No money's worth all this." 

"Quit complaining, Harry," Ricky snapped. "Go back if you want, but Sam and I'll take the kid."

From the look on Sam's face, he didn't seem too keen on that idea. 

Harry clamped his jaw shut. The laughter got louder. He couldn't close his ears, so he closed his eyes. 

" _Run, run, run, as fast as you can..._ "

Sam moaned. "Not again." 

Harry tensed, waiting to see what the mysterious voice would do to them this time. Seconds ticked by, and then minutes. 

Nothing happened. 

"The hell is he waiting for?" Sam muttered. 

Ricky stomped over and grabbed his arm. "Come _on_ , we can't just stand around here—" 

Sam's eyes went wide and he shrieked.

Harry damn near jumped out of his skin, and he jerked around trying to see what had scared Sam so bad. But the tunnel was empty. 

Sam, however, was backing up toward the wall, eyes on the ground. "I fuckin' hate centipedes, I fuckin' hate—" 

"There aren't no damn centipedes!" Ricky shouted. "No centipedes, no spiders, no worms or snakes or whatever other creepy crawlies—" 

Sam threw his flashlight halfway down the tunnel and started scrubbing his head. "They're in my _hair!_ They're in my fuckin' hair, my—" 

He took off down the tunnel like the hounds of hell were at his heels. Who knew, maybe for him, they were. 

Harry looked at Ricky. Ricky looked at Harry. 

"This is bad," Harry said. "We need to give the kid back." 

Ricky got in his face, mouth twisted in a sneer. "If we go back, we're gonna face _murder charges_. Do you want that?" 

"You're the one who shot him," Harry reminded him. 

"And you just stood there and let me. You really think they won't charge us _both?_ "

At this point, Harry was willing to take the risk. "It's either the cops or whatever _creepy ass ghost_ is fucking with us down here."

"For _fuck's sake_ , Harry, there's no such—" Ricky cut himself off.

"No such _what?_ " Harry snapped. 

But Ricky didn't answer. He was too busy staring wide-eyed at something over Harry's shoulder. 

Harry didn't want to turn and look, but he turned and looked anyway. 

Five pairs of red eyes were glowing at them from the dark of the tunnel. Then six, then seven, then eight. 

Harry took a deep breath. "Ricky, are you seeing a bunch of red eyes?" 

Ricky cleared his throat. "Uh. Yeah. I am." 

"Okay." Another pair of eyes appeared. Harry's heart was about to beat its way out of his chest and run down the tunnel its own damn self. "Can you, uh, grab the kid's other arm?" 

"Sure." Ricky reached over and got the kid's arm without ever taking his eyes off whatever was staring back at them. "Run on three?" 

Harry swallowed. "Sounds good." 

Ten more pairs of eyes appeared, and then mouths opened under every pair of eyes, revealing dripping white fangs. 

" _Three!_ " Harry shouted. 

They bolted down the tunnel with the kid between them, and _now_ Harry wished they hadn't drugged him again so that they didn't have to be dragging him along. He could've had a hand on his gun instead of one on a flashlight and one on the kid's arm, holding him up. 

Dozens of feet scrabbled on the stone behind them, chasing them, and Harry didn't dare turn around to see how close the red eyes were getting. 

"Door!" Ricky shouted. "Come on!" 

Ricky dropped the kid long enough to break open the door, and then ran inside, leaving Harry to drag the kid by himself. Harry cursed a blue streak and hauled the kid inside, kicked the door shut, and then hauled him up a staircase and out—

Out into the courtyard of the house they'd left. 

Harry gaped around them. It was darker, now that it was closer to sunset—how long had they been in the tunnels?—but it was definitely the same courtyard. "All that running, and we ended up exactly where we started out?" 

But Ricky's eyes were fixed on the gazebo. He pointed. "Harry...where's the body?" 

Harry followed his finger. There was nothing on the ground near the gazebo, where there _should've_ been a body, unless—

A person stepped out from the gazebo, and for one hysterical second, Harry was positive he was hallucinating because there was no other explanation for why someone looking like a renn fair reject—right down to the long white hair and footlong pointy elf ears—was standing in the gazebo. 

Then the guy started _floating_ and Harry was definitely hallucinating at this point. 

Ricky hauled out his gun and fired, and the floating guy vanished into thin air. "What the fuck? Where'd he go?" 

" _Boo_ ," a voice said from _right_ behind them. 

Harry screamed. He wasn't proud of it. 

The guy was floating in midair behind them now, grinning like the Cheshire Cat. "Gentlemen. I believe you have someone that belongs to me." 

Ricky still had the gun aimed at the guy. "What the hell _are_ you, you freak?!" 

The guy turned upside down. "'Freak'? Oh, that's not very nice. How would you like it if I called you a freak?" 

Ricky's eyes were wild. "I'm not the one with pointy ears floating in _mid fucking air!_ " 

"You're not?" The guy flipped right side up again, and his grin turned sharp as a knife. "Well, we can fix that." 

Ricky dropped the gun and grabbed at his face, which was suddenly growing hair all over it. His nose and mouth grew out and his ears grew _up_ , and a few seconds later Ricky's head was a _donkey's_ head. 

Harry backed away. Another scream was trying to make its way out of his throat, but he wouldn't let it. "What the _fuck._ "

Ricky clawed at his face and brayed. 

The guy landed lightly on the ground. "A bit predictable, I'll grant you, but you can't go wrong with the classics." 

"Turn him back." Harry tried to make the words demanding, but his voice wasn't nearly as steady as it needed to be for that.

"Hm, let me think." The white-haired guy tapped his chin with one finger. "No."

"What? Why?" Harry's voice was going high-pitched. "You can't just leave him like that!" 

The guy cocked his head at him. "You don't know how this works, do you? You've got to _bargain_. Although seeing as how he shot me, you're going to have to come up with a pretty good bargain." 

"He shot..." Harry took another step back, dragging the kid with him. "Who _are_ you?"

"I?" The guy sprang up into the air again and crowed, "I am that _merry_ wanderer of night!" He put a hand to the side of his mouth like he was about to share a secret, and said to Harry in a stage whisper, "Owen's been helping Alexander practice his lines for the play, you know. It got me sentimental." He dropped to the ground again. "But that's not what you're _really_ asking, is it?" 

With that, the guy grew a full ten inches taller, his hair got shorter and turned blond, his ears shrank to normal human ears, and now the floating guy was the same guy that Ricky had shot at the gazebo. Xanatos's assistant. 

What. The _fuck_. 

The assistant took his glasses out of his pocket and put them on. "My apologies. It seemed we were getting distracted. Now, there are two ways this conversation can go." He held up a finger. "One, you can give me the keys to Alexander's cuffs and tell me every detail you can recall about the man who hired you before the police arrive in," he checked his watch, "approximately five minutes and thirty-seven seconds, at which point you and your friend here will be taken into custody and I will take Alexander home."

Harry glanced from the guy to Ricky's donkey head to the kid, still unconscious in Harry's arms. "What's two?" 

"Two?" The assistant smiled, the same knife-sharp smile as the floating guy. "I can let Puck back out to play. And you already have some familiarity with _his_ preferred methods of persuasion." 

Ricky brayed again, and Harry jumped a foot in the air. 

The assistant adjusted his glasses. "So, which will it be?" 

Harry handed over the kid and the keys and told him everything. After a night like tonight, prison was gonna be a cakewalk.

***

Alex was having a nightmare. No, he was _living_ a nightmare, trapped in tunnels where he couldn't get out, trying to find his way back to Owen even though on some level he knew it had to be too late. 

_No_. He wouldn't let himself think that. Owen was fine. Owen was going to be _fine_ ; he had to be. 

Alex opened his eyes and found himself lying flat on the couch in his room, staring up at the ceiling. 

_What the hell?_

He scrambled to sit up, his head swimming with the effort. When had he gotten home? Or was he even home? He had no idea what they'd stuck him with; was he hallucinating? How could he tell if he was hallucinating? 

Someone caught him by the arms and kept him from pitching over onto the floor. "Whoa, kid, hold your horses." 

Puck was sitting in front of him. Alex blinked and rubbed his eyes, trying to make that make sense when the last time he'd seen Puck, he'd been _shot_. "Puck?"

Puck patted his head. "Oh, good, looks like your brain is coming back online. That's the first sensible thing you've said in about two hours." 

Alex kept staring. "Is it really you?" 

"Is it—" Puck scoffed. "Of course it's really me! Who else do you know with ears like—"

Alex hugged him as hard as he could.

"— _hrk!_ "

Alex wasn't going to cry. He _wasn't_. No matter how tight his throat was. "I thought...I thought..." 

"Hey, it's okay, it's—" Puck's hands flitted around, like he was trying to figure out how to comfort him without being vulnerable himself, before he gave up and hugged Alex back. "Ah, fine."

"They _shot you!_ " Alex half-sobbed, half-shouted, because Puck wasn't taking this _nearly_ as seriously as he needed to be. 

"Kid, I'm immortal, did you forget?" Puck gently flicked his ear. "Your Granddaddy Xanatos put an actual iron harpoon through Oberon's chest and it didn't kill him. You think a little bullet's going to do me in? Even in human form?"

"But you _were_ in—in..." Alex trailed off and pulled back. 

Puck was watching him with a barely suppressed smile, the same look Alex had seen hundreds of times over the years when he was waiting for Alex to make a connection while they were training.

Which they weren't now. 

And Alex wasn't in danger. 

And Puck was _still here._

"You're still here," Alex said, unable to find a way to say it better.

Puck grinned at him. "The battle royale between Alexander Xanatos and Lord Oberon finally has a victor. Alexander, two. Oberon, goose egg." He ruffled Alex's hair. "Good thing I stuck around to teach you a few tricks, huh?" 

Alex hugged him again. "You broke the spell." 

"Haha, _no_." Puck pulled back and poked him in the middle of the forehead. " _You_ broke the spell." He sat back on his hands. "I don't think I've ever been prouder." 

Alex wiped his eyes. "Not even when I turned all of Brett Lawson's books into rats in sixth grade?" 

Puck cackled and clapped his hands. "Okay, _that_ was great. Little jerk deserved it, too. But I think this edges it out. Just by a hair, mind you. I'm still pretty proud of that rat spell." 

Alex laughed and rubbed the edge of his shirt over his face to clear off the tears he definitely wasn't shedding. "Yeah, me too." 

Puck hopped off the couch and floated there. "So, uh. Is it gonna bother you if I switch back?" 

Alex frowned. "To Owen? No, why would it?" 

"Well, you know." Puck's gaze darted to the corner of the room, and he actually looked nervous. "You went through all this trouble to get Oberon's spell off me—" 

"Yeah, because you should have a _choice_." Alex emphasized the last word. "I told you ages ago, I don't care what form you take, if you're Owen all the time or Puck all the time or whatever. I cared that Oberon made it so you couldn't decide for yourself."

Puck's face did something complicated, and then he glowed green. A few seconds later, Owen was standing there. 

Alex stood up and threw his arms around him. 

And Owen, for maybe the first time that Alex could remember, didn't hesitate to hug him back. 

"Don't ever get shot again," Alex said, his voice thick. 

"I assure you, that's not an experience I wish to repeat," Owen said. "And your father expressed similar sentiments. Only with more swearing." 

Alex squeezed his eyes shut. "Good." 

Owen hugged him tighter. "Thank you, Alexander," he said very, very quietly. 

Alex swallowed hard. "Any time."


	19. The First Lesson

_October 1996_

Lexington was not having a great night. He'd been knocked out twice, both times by members of his own clan, and now he was stuck deep inside the castle with a massive headache and the bitter awareness that whatever was going on with Brooklyn, Coldstone, and the others, he was in _way_ over his head. 

He could use some help.

_HI!_

Suddenly, he got slammed with hundreds of impressions, like someone had shoved two dozen televisions all tuned to different channels into his brain at once. He could only catch snatches of conversation, glimpses of images, before they were wiped away by something else in the cacophony. 

Lexington clutched his head. "Stop! _Stop!_ " 

It stopped, and the only thing left behind was a sense of unfamiliar confusion. 

Well, whoever—or whatever—was in his head wasn't the only one confused. Lexington took a deep breath. "Who...or what...are you?" 

_AlexanderKiddoAlexSonBoy—_

__"Whoa, whoa." Lexington had to sit down. " _Alex?_ Like, baby Alex? Xanatos's son?" 

He immediately got an image of Fox, Xanatos, and Owen from the perspective of someone looking up at them from a crib. 

_Yeah!_

Well, this was weird. And it was also not even close to the weirdest thing to have happened tonight. Lexington rubbed his head. "So what are you doing inside _me?_ "

The images came faster this time—Owen transforming into Puck, Puck and Alex turning into Goliath and Hudson and waking up Coldstone, two of Coldstone's personalities going into Broadway and Angela while the third went into Brooklyn, Alex going into Lexington, and then Puck and Alex in Lexington's body putting one personality back into Coldstone and the other two into new robots Xanatos had built with a spell. 

Lexington was... _pretty_ sure he'd gotten all that. "You're learning magic? And you need my help to cast a spell?" 

He got the sensation that Alex was giggling and clapping his hands. So that was a _yes_ , then. 

"Why do you need _my_ help?" Lexington asked. 

"Because you can talk!" his own mouth said in response. 

Lexington startled. " _Gah!_ That's...don't _do_ that." 

His whole chest grew heavy with sorrow; Alex hadn't meant to scare him and Puck had told him to _ask_ first if Lexington was okay with it and—

Ugh, Lexington was getting another headache. "It's okay, it's okay," he said quickly. "Just don't take over my body until I tell you that you can, okay?" 

The heaviness lifted immediately. _Okay!_

"So you want me to help you do magic because I can say the spell," Lexington said. 

_Yeah!_

Alex seemed okay; he was just a baby and it wasn't like he could help who his parents were. But Lexington couldn't just forget what Xanatos had done to them, and by extension, Puck, since he'd apparently been helping Xanatos the whole time as Owen. 

Plus, the first time they'd met, Puck had turned Lexington's own axe on him. That kind of thing left an impression. 

"Look, I know you need help, but I don't know if I can help you," Lexington said. "It would be helping Puck, and he's not really...a good person." 

Alex was confused again. _Puck good._

Lexington sighed. "No, Alex, he's not. I know you're just a baby, but—" 

_YES. GOOD,_ Alex shouted in his head, and then Lexington got _slammed_ with images.

Puck playing a flute to help Alex sleep at night. Owen making silly faces at him while changing Alex's diaper. Owen holding Alex while he was on a conference call, letting Alex try to pry open his stone fist. Puck playing peek-a-boo by disappearing and reappearing. Owen rocking Alex when it was time for a nap. Puck making an illusion of tiny birds over Alex's crib to distract him from a thunderstorm outside. 

Dozens and dozens of images of Owen showing a level of caring that Lexington would never in a million years have expected from him. But for Alex it was just...daily life. 

_Good_ , Alex repeated firmly. _Wanna help clan. Good._

Well, Lexington couldn't really agree with that, but...maybe Puck wasn't as bad as he'd thought, either. 

It was something to consider, anyway. 

"Okay," he said. "I'll help you out. But this is going to be so weird." 

_Fun!_ Alex crowed. 

"Fun," Lexington agreed. "But _weird_."


	20. Chapter 20

_March 2013_  
  
Alex stood on the sidewalk outside the diner, staring up at the sign. _Shelly's Place_. 

It looked like it had been here for fifty years and the first five were the best it had seen. But this was where the kidnapper had said they'd met up with Oberon. 

It had taken Alex some fast talking and a few spells to get out of the castle without an entourage. Nobody had wanted to let him out of their sight for the past few days, not even to go to school. That, at least, he'd gotten around by sending selfies to his parents before and after every class and either teleporting home or letting someone pick him up. Sure, Alex understood why they were getting ridiculously overprotective, but he just wanted things to get back to normal. 

He was definitely twitchier about being alone than he used to be, though. 

Alex shifted his weight and debated whether to go inside. He wasn't sure what he was going to do if Oberon was actually in there. 

Well, only one way to find out. 

Alex pulled open the diner door and stepped inside onto a threadbare mat, next to a dying plant and a gumball machine that probably hadn't been cleaned since the '90s. He touched the plant and whispered a spell; he couldn't help it for _long_ but he could help it survive a few more weeks, at least.

The diner was nearly empty; the only server in the place was sitting behind the counter with their eyes glued to their phone, and Alex caught a glimpse of the chef in the kitchen. 

And at the table in the back corner sat a tall man with white hair and a sour expression, idly stirring something into a coffee mug. 

_Bingo_. 

Alex squared his shoulders, strode across the diner, and slid into the booth opposite Oberon. 

Oberon looked up from his coffee, and his eyes widened. 

"Hi," Alex said flatly. 

The surprise flipped back into a glower. "Have you come to gloat?" 

"No." Alex leaned forward and linked his hands on the table. "I came to find out if you were the one who hired those guys to kidnap me." 

Oberon smirked and sipped his coffee, and then screwed up his face. "I will never understand the human fascination with this beverage. Nothing makes it palatable." 

"Who gives a crap about coffee?" Alex squeezed his fingers so he wouldn't slam his fists on the table. "Were you the one who hired them?" 

Oberon sat back against the booth. "And if I was? What do you intend to do about it? You have already taken everything from me. There is nothing more you can do." 

It was taking every ounce of self-control Alex possessed to keep from jumping across the table and punching him again. "I can keep you stuck here for another five hundred years, make it an even thousand. That's how long you banished everybody else from Avalon." 

Oberon's icy gaze narrowed a fraction. "You cannot." 

Alex raised his eyebrows. "Want to bet?" 

Oberon scowled at him, but he drank his coffee instead of responding. 

Yeah, that's what Alex thought. "So back to my original question. Did you hire those guys to kidnap me?" 

Oberon rolled his eyes. "What does it matter? You're clearly no longer a captive." 

Alex clenched his fists. "They shot Owen." 

Oberon frowned. "Owen? Who... Ah, that's right. Puck." 

If Alex hadn't known better, he would have sworn Oberon looked _sorrowful_.

"That is unfortunate," Oberon finally said. "I told them human weapons would be unnecessary, but it seems they did not listen. And Puck should not have been there in the first place." 

"Then it seems you still understand very little about mortals, my lord." 

Alex swung around at Owen's voice; Owen _and_ Dad were standing right beside the booth. Alex hadn't even heard them walk up. 

From the look on Oberon's face, he hadn't, either. 

Dad regarded Alex mildly. "Just going to hang out in your room after school, huh?" 

Alex winced. "But I—" 

"Save it." Dad hooked his thumb over his shoulder. "Out of the booth." 

Alex grumbled under his breath, but he scooted out and stepped aside, waiting for Dad or Owen to usher him out of the diner. 

Instead, Dad slid into the booth in his place. "Oberon. The last time I saw you, you were trying to kidnap my son. Funny how the more things change, the more they stay the same." 

Oberon looked displeased at the interruption. "Indeed." He turned to Owen. "I was informed you were dead." 

Owen pushed his glasses up. "You were informed I was shot. A minor, but important, difference." 

"Anyway." Dad steepled his fingers. "It's been suggested to me that you're probably unaware of how the human justice system works. And given that you're human for the next few centuries, you're now subject to it." He smiled thinly. "Kidnapping is something that we like to call a 'felony.' It means you committed a very _bad_ crime, and you're going away to prison for a long time."

Oberon dismissed the words with a scoff. "I fail to see how that is a concern of mine. Your son is very clearly returned to you." 

Dad shrugged. "Interestingly, the police don't see it that way. Neither do I, but that's beside the point." 

"Did you come to bargain with me, then?" Oberon asked.

"Oh, no." Dad spread his hands on the table. "I came to tell you that you're going to be arrested. Now, I admit, I don't have a lot of love for the police in general, but in this particular case, I think I can make an exception." He stood back up. "Detective Maza's outside. I told her you'd come quietly." 

"I?" Oberon gave Dad a look like he was something he'd scraped off the bottom of his shoe. "I see no reason to go with you. No harm has been done to you, and _I_ am still stuck in this miserable form for another five hundred years."

"Remember how I said we could make it an even thousand?" Alex snapped. 

Oberon sneered at him. 

Dad raised his hand. "Now, Alex, there's no need for threats. I think it's time that you started getting a few more lessons from me." He put his arm on the back of the booth and turned to Alex with a smile. "First up: delegation." His eyes shifted to Owen. "Owen, can you tell me what the punishment on Avalon would be for something like this?" 

Owen studied the window thoughtfully. "Likely something very similar to what Alexander has already done. Reduction or removal of power was a favorite punishment, as you might recall." 

"So what do you think we should do as an additional punishment, given that Alex has already handled part of it?" Dad asked very conversationally. 

"Hm." Owen took out his phone and made a show of checking notes. "I suppose there are a few things we could do. A removal of Alexander's exceptions for the use of magic, for example, which would render Oberon wholly mortal for the duration of the spell, without _any_ caveats." 

Oberon glared at both of them. "You wouldn't." 

Owen kept skimming through his phone. "Another option is a full transfer of power to Alexander." 

Oberon jumped to his feet, rocking the table and upsetting his half-empty mug. " _What?!_ "

Alex whipped his head around to Owen. " _What?_ " 

Owen ignored both of them. "Since Alexander defeated you, it is his right to take his place as the ruler of Avalon. And part of his right as ruler is to take your magic as well." He put his phone down and looked straight at Oberon, utterly impassive. "All of it." 

Alex opened his mouth to argue—he didn't want to rule Avalon and Owen _knew_ that—but Owen glanced sideways at him and gave him the very smallest smile. 

He and Dad were up to something. Alex shut his mouth. 

"You cannot. That is impossible," Oberon said. "A third party would have to perform the transfer and Titania is the only one strong enough. And _she_ would never betray me like this."

Owen rocked back on his heels, a very small Puck-like motion. "That is not entirely accurate, my lord. A third party must facilitate the transfer, yes, but Titania is _not_ the only one strong enough to do so." 

The realization dawned on Oberon's face. " _You?!_ " 

Owen smiled. "Me." 

Oberon straight-up _snarled_. "That is impossible. Your punishment—" 

Owen gestured at the table, and the coffee mug righted itself and pulled all the coffee back into it. Oberon stared at it like the mug had grown feet and started dancing. 

"Thanks to Alexander, my punishment is no longer a concern," Owen said. "Now, which would you prefer? Human justice? Or ours?" 

Oberon's head snapped up to them, and his fingers curled against the table. 

Then he shot out from the booth and straight for Alex. 

Owen stepped smoothly in front of him, and Alex grabbed him to pull him out of the way—

And then Dad stood up and punched Oberon right in the face, hard enough that Alex heard a _crunch_. Oberon dropped to the floor like a rock, blood pouring from his nose. 

Alex gaped at his dad. "Holy _shit_ , Dad."

Dad shook out his hand. "I've waited almost seventeen years to do that."

Owen made a disapproving noise and took Dad's hand to examine it. "Really, sir, I had it in hand. There's no reason to risk breaking _yours_." 

"I never had any doubt," Dad said. "But I couldn't let an opportunity like that pass. You understand." 

The look Owen gave him said he damn well did _not_ understand, and Alex had a feeling Dad was going to be getting an earful on their way home. 

Alex continued gaping. "Did you actually break your hand?" 

"No, Owen's being paranoid. Your mother isn't the only one who knows how to throw a punch, you know." Dad pulled his hand away and rubbed it, with an affectionate look at Owen. "Go tell Elisa that he's ready to come quietly." 

Alex took one more look at Oberon, who was staring at the blood on his hand like he was trying to figure out what the hell it was and why it was coming out of him. He could almost— _almost—_ feel sorry for him. Being human wasn't easy. 

Oh well. Oberon had plenty of time to figure out how to handle it. Maybe he'd learn some humility along the way. 

Alex ran outside to find Aunt Elisa standing by her car, talking to Mom. 

"Heeeey Aunt Elisa, Dad says Oberon's ready to come quietly," Alex said.

Aunt Elisa narrowed her eyes. "Did he punch him?" 

"Would you believe me if I said no?" Alex tried. 

She pressed her fingers to the bridge of her nose and cursed under her breath. "God _damn_ it, I told him not to punch him."

Mom patted her shoulder. "You tried." 

Aunt Elisa groaned and pushed off the car, pulling handcuffs out of her belt as she headed into the diner. 

Alex rubbed the back of his neck and gave his mom what he hoped was a charming smile. "So, uh..." 

"Save it," Mom said. "None of us believed you for a second." 

Alex made a face. "Seriously?" 

Mom laughed. "Seriously." 

He leaned against the car beside her. "Then why did you guys let me go?" 

She nodded at the diner. "One, because your dad and Owen had their own agenda. And two..." She sighed. "You already beat him once. We thought it couldn't hurt to let you confront him. It seemed like something you needed to do." 

Alex slid across the car until he was against her, and Mom put her arm around him. "I think I needed a better plan." 

Mom kissed the top of his head. "Pay more attention to your dad. He's got a million of them." 

Aunt Elisa came out of the diner with Oberon in handcuffs, his nose no longer leaking like a bloody faucet courtesy of two napkins shoved up his nostrils. Dad and Owen were right behind her. 

Aunt Elisa was halfway through the Miranda rights and was adding an explanation on to each one. "You have the right to an attorney. If you can't afford one, one will be provided for you. That means you'll get someone who actually understands the laws here to help you navigate this whole thing, so _please_ don't be a jerk to them. For your sake." 

"This is absurd," Oberon said. "I did nothing to the boy. I simply paid—" 

"Remember how you have the right to remain silent?" Aunt Elisa said. "Friendly advice: You should _really_ consider exercising that right." 

Mom gave Alex a squeeze and then pushed off the car. "Come on, let's go." 

Alex followed her over to their car just a few spots down, where Dad and Owen were already waiting. Dad was still flexing his fingers. 

Mom shook her head and kissed his hand. "You're going to be feeling that for a while." 

Dad kissed her hand in return. "Worth it."

Alex turned to Owen. "So that was the plan? Get Oberon mad enough that Dad could punch him?" 

Dad rolled his eyes. "Hardly. The punch was just a bonus. A _great_ bonus, mind you, but just a bonus." 

"It's unlikely prison will do anything do aid Oberon in seeing the error of his ways," Owen said. "At best, it will keep him in one spot for a few years. That will make it easy for us to keep an eye on him while he's there, but won't do anything to prevent him from seeking you out again once he's released." 

Alex considered the conversation in the diner. "Mortal justice won't...but Avalon justice will?" 

Owen nodded. "Oberon now knows that not only are you strong enough to beat him, you're strong enough to undo a curse he placed at the height of his power. He also knows that I'm in full possession of my powers once more. Should he step out of line again, he's now aware of exactly what the consequences will be." 

_Now_ Alex saw where they'd been going with it. "And he doesn't know that I don't want his power, because if our positions were reversed, he'd want mine." 

Owen smiled serenely. "Precisely." 

Dad clapped Alex on the shoulder. "I don't know about you all, but I'm starving. What do you say we pick up pizza on the way home? That should get us back just after sundown." 

"Yes!" Alex shouted. 

Owen opened the car door. "The usual order, sir?" 

Dad slid into the back seat. "Yes, thank you, Owen."

Mom pulled out her phone and got in behind him. "I'll tell Elisa to pick up drinks on the way over." 

Alex sidled up to the driver's side door and reached for the handle. "Hey, can I drive?" 

Owen shut the back door. "In this traffic? Absolutely not." 

Alex debated pushing, but there was one thing he wanted _more_ than getting to drive, so he walked around to the other side of the car without further protest and got in the passenger seat. 

He waited until they were on their way to the pizza parlor before he asked. "So, Owen..." 

Owen raised an eyebrow. "Yes?" 

Alex chewed on his lower lip. "Want to do magic when we get home?" 

Owen's shoulders rose just a hair, like he was tensing for a blow, but he didn't take his eyes off the road. "Perhaps not tonight," he said. "What do you say to a game of chess instead?" 

Alex frowned, trying to figure out why Owen would be _tense_ about him asking about _magic_ , when he remembered Puck asking about changing into Owen. 

_You went to all this trouble..._

And in a flash, Alex heard what wasn't being said. 

_Did you mean it when you said you didn't mind?_

Alex snorted and cracked his knuckles. "Yeah, we can do chess. But I'm not going to go easy on you like Hudson does."

_Yeah, I meant it, you dumbass_. 

Owen's shoulders relaxed. "Spoken like someone who's never played Hudson at chess."

"Psh." Alex scoffed. "I could totally take either of you." 

Owen tapped the screen on the dash and brought up the phone. "I look forward to seeing you try. Now quiet, unless you want to order the pizza." 

Alex shut his mouth and let Owen handle that; their "usual order" involved twenty different pizzas and five salads and he was positive Owen was the only living being on the planet who even had the _capability_ of memorizing it. 

He rested his forehead against the window and watched the street go by as he listened to Owen recite their order with his usual calm precision, correcting the harried pizza person when inevitably they messed it up on reading it back to him. 

They'd pick up the pizza, and then they'd head home, and by that time the clan would be awake and Aunt Elisa would be off shift and they'd all eat together in the game room and Owen would absolutely _destroy_ Alex at chess and Hudson would watch despairingly and make pained noises with every piece Alex lost. Bronx would be sniffing around looking for someone to share their pizza and Lex and Brooklyn would be arguing about what to watch on TV and Broadway and Angela would be snuggled up on the smallest loveseat and Mom and Dad and Aunt Elisa and Goliath would all be sitting together around the table swapping stories Alex wasn't supposed to hear for another two years at least.

And most importantly, Owen would be Owen, not because he had to be but because he _wanted_ to be.

For the first time in three years, Alex felt like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. They had done it. They'd actually done it.

Puck was finally free.


	21. Epilogue: And They Lived...

_February 1998  
_  
Alexander was crying. 

To be more precise, Alexander _had been_ crying for over an hour and Owen was about at his wit's end. He had tried everything he could think of—some options magic, some not—but so far nothing had helped. He'd managed to get him bathed and ready for bed, but Alexander was standing in his crib and sobbing and _refusing_ to lie down for sleep. 

"You need to go to sleep soon," Owen told him. 

Alexander held up his hands and sobbed louder.

Owen sighed and picked him up. "Can you please tell me what's wrong?" 

Alexander said something, but it was indistinguishable through his tears. 

"I'll need you to repeat that," Owen said. 

"Want storyyyy," Alexander wailed. 

"A story?" Well, that was easy. Owen walked over to the bookshelf, packed with picture books. "Which one do you want?" 

"No!" Alexander shouted. "Daddy story." 

"Your father isn't here right now, Alexander," Owen explained for the twelfth time that evening. "He can't tell you a story tonight." 

Alexander pushed his shoulder. " _Owen_ tell Daddy story."

"I can't tell your father a story right now, I—" Owen cut himself off and rearranged the words to what Alexander had more likely meant. "Do you want me to tell you a story that your father tells you?" 

Alexander nodded. "Tell Daddy story." 

"The one about the king and the queen and the castle above the clouds?" Owen asked. 

"Yeah." 

Of course he would want that one. Owen sighed again. "Very well. But you _must_ lay down." 

Alexander immediately laid his head on Owen's shoulder. 

That wasn't exactly what he'd meant, but it was the most amenable Alexander had been all evening, so Owen would let it slide. He took a deep breath and started the story. "Once upon a time, a king and a queen lived in a castle high above the clouds..."

He did not remember _exactly_ the way Xanatos told the story, but that didn't matter. Alexander was not yet old enough to correct him on the details, and the substance of it was not something Owen was ever going to forget.

Alexander started to get heavy around the reveal that the queen's mother was actually Titania, and by the time Owen reached the part about the knight being one of Oberon's Children, Alexander was fast asleep. 

Owen laid him in the crib with the utmost caution, lest he disturb Alexander and have to start the whole thing over again. Alexander nestled into his bed, his breathing unchanged. 

Owen hesitated, and then smoothed his hand over Alexander's red hair. It was a strange thing, to be so attached to the boy. At first, he had told himself it was for Xanatos's sake, but as time went on it became more and more apparent that no, Owen was attached for his _own_ sake. 

It was a sensation he had no idea how to handle.

He cleared his throat. "I will tell you a secret, Alexander, one that your father does not tell you when he tells you this story. He tells you that the knight gave up a great deal to stay, which is true. But he doesn't tell you what the knight gained in return." 

He rested his hand on the side of the crib. "In return for giving up his magic and his home, the knight got his heart's greatest desire: to stay here. In the world he'd come to love, with the man he'd come to love, with the child he'd grown to love. He gained a family, which he had never had before. And had he known the price before he chose, he would have paid it gladly." 

Owen crossed the room to turn out the lights but for one lamp in the corner, and returned to the crib to make sure Alexander was still sleeping soundly and to finish the story. "And so the knight stayed in the mortal world with the king and queen, to teach and protect the young prince for all their days, however long they might be.

"And yes, Alexander, they all lived happily ever after."

THE END

**Author's Note:**

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